Introduction to Theology and Bible Study

In my last post I talked about theology and the importance of owning it. After writing that and thinking over what I said for a couple of days, I began to realize that not all of you know much about theology. , As I said before, theology is the study or discourse of God. Because everybody has their own set of beliefs regarding spirituality and the way the world works, everyone has their own theological beliefs. Owning one's theology means knowing what you believe about God, and that includes whether or not you believe He exists, and being able to articulate it in a coherent manner. It also involves more than just simply knowing the Bible, because there are a lot of people that "know the Bible" but don't know it in a way that coincides with orthodox Christianity (orthodox does not mean Eastern Orthodox but it means correct Christian beliefs that were decided upon between 100 and 1000 AD).

A lot of Christians have a bad habit of doing is saying that they only need the Bible as the foundation for their faith. This belief explains why a lot of the books I read by evangelicals make a lot of theological statements, cleverly disguised as biblical/scriptural statements. Don't get me wrong, the Bible is the foundation of the Christian faith as it is Christian Scripture but the Bible requires interpretation and it is unclear about a lot of things. A lot of Christians that practice the belief of only the Bible do not know how to properly study the Bible and interpret A LOT passages incorrectly... Oh, I actually meant they interpret Bible verses incorrectly. The reason for my correction is that my fellow brothers and sisters have a bad habit of yanking a single Bible verse out of its context because it says exactly what they want. In doing so they have turned God's Word into their word so to speak and miss the real message behind a passage. Hence why I no longer read books by a lot of people who have not had some kind of post Christian education. Sorry people like Sharon Jaynes, but a lot Bible verses you use in your books are taken out of context and are interpreted incorrectly. Perhaps you should consult Gordon D. Fee's and Douglas Stuart's How to Read the Bible for All its Worth or Duvall & Hays, Grasping God’s Word, 2nd before you write your next book (or your next Girlfriends in God devotion). By the way, its not just Mrs. Jaynes that does this but she's one example that is well known to Christian women all over the world, and I figure I'd give them the heads up.

This is why theology is important. Many of the church fathers and theologians that have come and gone before us have studied the Bible and have formalized through the Spirit's guidance about what is Orthodox Christianity, and what is not. Not only are their writings helpful in interpreting the Bible properly, but they also helpful in correcting unorthodox beliefs.

You do not have to go to Bible College to own your theology or to learn how to do inductive Bible Study. There are many books that are written for the non-academic audience that cover all of the doctrines of Christian theology. A couple of examples are Christian Theology by Millard J. Erickson and The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity Diversity by Roger E Olson. You can also go learn how to do Inductive Bible Study at different churches. For example, the Metropolitan Bible Church in Ottawa is doing a lesson on Inductive Bible Study.

Owning your theology and proper biblical theology helped to solidify my faith and gave it a healthy intellectual side. Further more, it contributed to my decision to go into the academic stream of higher Christian education. It also strengthens your relationship with God as theology is able to describe God in a way that the Bible cannot do on its own. How does it do that? Well go grab a theology book and see for yourself!