When it comes to theology, I will fall toward the side of the Reformers,
Edwards, Machen and Ockenga. Sproul wrote, “When we engage in the
quest to understand God, it is theology. When our quest is limited to
understanding how people react to theology, it is religion.”[1]As
Vanhoozer and Strachan both alluded to in their writings, too many
pastors and Christians are solely pursuing religion leaving theology to
academia, where it too is twisted all too often to be anthropocentric. With
human-focused religion, the church leans toward human needs and
desires forgetting that our purpose is to glorify God, not seek what God
can do for us. Moreover, I have witnessed more than a few churches
ruined and split by the partisanship of human politics.
After graduating from High School, I left the church and religion, having
had no theological foundation taught to me and no inkling of what the
word even meant. It was not until more than twenty years later, following
some miraculous turns of events, that I was introduced to Christian
apologetics leading into theology, where I began to understand and feel
drawn toward God and Christianity. When I began attending church,
multiple different churches, and denominations, I was stunned by the
hesitancy of pastors refusing to equip the laity with theology and the lack
of foundational theology among the pastorate. More than a few times, I
was told too much theology was too difficult for the congregation. Mind
you, these were not at liberal churches but steadfast conservative
denominations.
Therefore, when Vanhoozer observes, “What has Thomas Aquinas’s
understanding of the persons of the Trinity as subsistent relations to do
with visiting a deacon who has just learned he has pancreatic cancer, or
the economic Trinity with church members struggling with
unemployment? For that matter, what bearing does the doctrine of the
Trinity have on the life of the church at all? To think that it has no bearing
is as unfortunate as it is false” resonates well with my experience.[2]It
also represents the paucity of knowledge of too many pastors, elders, and
mature members of the church. How can the church leaders equip,
disciple, and spiritually form congregants when they are mere spiritual
infants?
McQuilkin notes well, “Humans have been designed for worship, but we
can easily create God-substitutes. Westerners shouldn’t deceive
themselves into thinking that idolatry is primitive and perhaps charming.
Those who think this do not understand it. John Calvin called the human
heart an idol-producing factory – a fact irrespective of West and non-
West.”[3]I couldn’t agree more. So many churches and pastors, with their
watered-down theology if present at all, elevate attendance, budget, and
fancy churches above Scriptural truth and above the Creator. We all have
sins and idols we struggle with, but with a depth of theology and
Scriptural knowledge, it certainly makes for an easier time repenting of
these transgressions and, as Paul asserts, “to put off your old self, which
belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful
desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the
new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and
holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).[4]
[1]R.C. Sproul,What is Reformed Theology(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Books, 1997), 18.
[2]Kevin J. Vanhoozer, and Owen Strachan,The Pastor as Public
Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost Vision(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic,
2015), 6.
[3]Robertson McQuilkin, and Paul Copan,An Introduction to Biblical
Ethics: Walking in the Way of Wisdom(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity
Press, 2014), 190.
[4]Unless otherwise noted, all biblical references are in the English
Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001).
