When it comes to theology, I will fall toward the side of i 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).
