theology

The topic of theology has been rolling around inside me for a few days. So today I pulled my copy of “Lectures in Systematic Theology” by Henry Clarence Thissen. 

When I opened the book, I noticed I had one slip of paper marking a page that I hadn’t opened in years. The topic? “The Nature and Necessity of Theology.” So that is the topic of today’s devotional.

We know that biology is the study of living things, cardiology is the study of the heart, and ecology is the study of the interaction of living things with their environment. There are hundreds of sciences (i.e., ologies). Overall the sciences are theology for it is the science (i.e., study of the structure and behavior) of God.

For centuries theology was called the “queen of the sciences” and systematic theology was the crown of the queen. Theology is the “queen of the sciences” because the various branches of learning require an overarching standard, and that standard is the Bible.

Theology: The Queen of Sciences

Quoting from Got Questions (https://www.gotquestions.org_: Although the scholastic standard has changed in our world, a Christian’s belief in biblical inerrancy supports theology as “queen.” The Bible warns us to avoid “the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge” (1 Timothy 6:20). Rather, we should strive to “correctly handle the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Theology truly is the starting place for learning. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” (Proverbs 1:7).

To keep this article brief, I’m skipping over the logic for the necessity of theology. However, I want to touch on the “possibility” of theology. How is it possible to have a science about God when we can’t measure Him? 

The “possibility” of theology comes from two things: the revelation of God and the endowments of man. The revelation of God takes on two forms: general and special, kind of like Albert Einstein’s theories of general relativity and special relativity. The endowments of man have two types: mental and spiritual.

In tomorrow’s devotional, we will take a look at God’s general and special revelations and mankind’s mental and spiritual endowments.

Why Bother

Why should we bother learning theology when we are already saved? Let me answer that question with a theological question: Since the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote in Roman’s 10:9, “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” So, why do I need to be baptized?

More tomorrow…

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

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