HOW ARE WE TO DO THEOLOGY?

This question is really very elementary. Theology is a moral mandate to correctly interpret Scripture. Theology is our attempt to understand God’s Word as He had intended, meditating on the Word day and night (Psalm 1). By doing this, we please our Lord:

·       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 Timothy 2:15; ESV)

Although this answer is simple, we tend to pervert our interpretation of God’s Word. For the first several years as a Christian, I had interpreted Scripture through my distorted lens. I tried to understand Scripture in a way that would enable me to feel good about myself, not thinking for a moment that there was anything wrong with doing theology in this manner.

If my interpretation felt right to me, I’d embrace it. If it didn’t, I would either try to interpret the verse in question in a more congenial way, or I would just ignore it.

This is the way I had read the Bible even before the Lord had opened my heart to believe. Ethnically, a Jew and also a Zionist living in Israel, my favorite book quickly became the Book of Joshua. Why? Because my people were victorious over the others, and that made me feel good!

However, the next book was Judges. Expecting more of the same ego-enhancement, I became very disappointed with this book and put the Hebrew Scriptures down.

Many others are doing the same thing, even scholars. We comb the Scriptures for support for our own conclusions. One theologian and Bible skeptic taught that Jesus was a recovering racist. According to this scholar, He had admitted that He was wrong about denigrating the Syro-Phoenician woman, referring to her as a Gentile “Dog” (Matthew 15). At first, He thought her unworthy to receive anything from Him. However, after seeing her faith, He decided otherwise.

From this, the misguided theologian concluded that Scripture is often wrong. Jesus had been wrong. Therefore, the rest of the Scriptures should not be taken as divine and unquestionable. Since Jesus had been wrong, we shouldn’t allow the Scriptures to determine our thinking. Consequently, this theologian had elevated his own judgment above that of the Scriptures, instead of allowing the Scriptures to judge him.

Scripture is also made into the servant of our lifestyles. We coerce it to say the very things that will justify our lifestyles. Christians who believe in socialism exalt the few verses that show that the disciples had everything in common and ignore the many other verses that make appeals to individuals who have their own financial resources.

Those who are living alternative sexual lifestyles present Jesus as the ultimate radical who challenged the status quo. Likewise, they liken Jesus’ foes, the bigoted Pharisees, to Bible–believing Christians. They also emphasize the fact that Jesus was inclusive, but they neglect the fact that Jesus also required the sinner to repent (Luke 13:1-5). These sexual libertarians also ignore the fact that Jesus’ critique of the Pharisees wasn’t that they were judgmental, but that they refused to even believe Moses:

·       Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:45-47)

Instead of trying to harmoniously reconcile the verses of Scripture, too much theology is eager to reconcile Scripture with the prevailing culture and its fads. Theistic evolutionists (TE) claim that there is no possible conflict between Scripture and evolution. They argue that these two sources of knowledge cannot conflict because they are focused on different things. Evolution’s concern is the physical world, while the Bible’s focus is on the spiritual world. Conflict resolved!

However, the Bible teaches a lot about the physical world – teachings that go against evolution, like God speaking the world into existence or the introduction of sin and death through Adam and Eve. Doesn’t this violate the TE’s claim?

According to the TE, even though the Bible talks about the physical world, its main concern is spiritual, as if it is possible to separate the two. The TE goes further by claiming that the Bible speaks wrongly about the physical world because it has been influenced by the prevailing cosmology. Here is an example the TE uses to denigrate what the Bible teaches about the physical world:

·       Yes, the world [earth] is established; it shall never be moved. (Psalm 93:1)

How will it never be moved? The TE claims that the Bible had been influenced by the unscientific cosmology of its day, which had claimed that the earth was unmovable because it rests on a pedestal.

However, the TE ignores the fact that Scripture also claims that the righteous shall not be moved. How so? Because he is stuck on a pedestal? Of course, not! Rather, he will not be “moved” in the sense that he will not be destroyed. Likewise, the earth will not be destroyed (“moved”).

The TE and many others coerce Scripture into agreeing with them, just as I had done. Hopefully, I have learned to avoid this sin. It is not because I am more spiritual or faithful than others. I am not. Instead, it is because I have been so chastened that I only want God’s unadulterated truth. I need to know that I am thinking and teaching according to His light.

Theology, therefore, is not simply a mental exercise. If it was, we could learn wisdom from a book. However, wisdom is a gift from God. It comes through humbling and painful circumstances:

·       The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence. The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor. (Proverbs 15:31-33)

Who will listen to reproof; who solicits criticism? Only the one who has been humbled and has come to despair of his own judgments. Only such a person is ready for the “fear of the Lord” – an openness to His wisdom and correction.

I had “ignored instruction,” thinking that I had the answers. He chastened me with myself and my own foolishness, allowing me to reap the consequences of my arrogance. He humbled me in order to lift me up. The Psalmist David had confessed:

·       It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. (Psalm 119:71-72)

When we are afflicted, we grab any life-preserver thrown our way. The Word was given to me, and it is now my treasure. Therefore, I meditate on it continually, as the Lord instructed Joshua:

·       This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8)

How do we understand this Book? Once again, it is not just a mental activity. Theology must be done on “our knees,” meaning that we have to cry out to our Lord for His wisdom to properly understand. And He is able to provide understanding:

·       Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.” (Luke 24:44-46)

Since He can open our minds to understand His truths, we must be in prayer, lest our own inflated interests and agendas overtake us.

Therefore, do not worry that you are not a scholar. Our Lord is able to guide us into all the truths we need:

·       If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (James 1:5)

This is true as long as we desire His truth more than our own fleeting pleasures and as long as He is first in our lives:

·       Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it completely. (Proverbs 28:5; 1 John 2:20, 27)

Evil men are self-satisfied. Therefore, they are content to listen to their own desires and judgments. Admittedly, the pursuit of God’s wisdom can be daunting. The Bible is a rose that will open in its own time. However, God also provides pastors and teachers to make this task less daunting (Ephesians 4:11-14).

Learning God’s Word is a new endeavor. Ordinarily, we are controlled by our own biases and we turn only to those sources that reinforce our biases. This is called a “confirmation bias.”

I still experience its force. However, its force used to be my master, even as a Christian. I needed the Scriptures to validate me. Therefore, I would comb the Bible looking for verses that would make me feel good about myself and convince me that I was worthy of God’s love and salvation. When I didn’t find verses that would tell me what I wanted to hear, I would twist them until they did.

In contrast, God invites us to set aside our own lens and to look at the world through His. I hope that you will find this process transformational.