It’s a sticky, complicated subject. Sometimes, I think it would make just as much sense if I tried to read a theology book upside down, or backwards. There are some really smart people out there who have tried to define or explain God, but it’s such a deep subject that it’s impossible to get to the bottom of it. Sometimes, I think theology can be uplifting and enlightening. My earlier commentary on the idea of Jesus having two wills proves this.
Yet sometimes I can’t help but think that theology is totally and completely unnecessary. It is a side issue, something that we can debate and ponder and maybe use to learn more about God. But in the end, it is essentially meaningless.
The Bible doesn’t actually give very precise theological teaching. After Jesus left and his apostles began teaching, lots of new people were getting into this Christianity idea. They thought about this new teaching and what it meant, and they came up with a bunch of different ideas. They started trying to explain and define all this stuff.
Jesus is the son of God. Okay, what does that mean? A guy called Arius taught that Jesus was a created being, that there was a time when God existed and Jesus didn’t. Other people said Jesus always existed, ’begotten, not made.’ There is God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are somehow one God. How does that work? One being acting in three different roles? Three distinct personalities? A hierarchy with the Father on top and the Holy Spirit on the bottom? An equal relationship between the three?
The Bible doesn’t spell it out nice and clear, so everyone else tried to. They held big councils and voted on which theory to accept and which not to. They excommunicated people over this stuff.
But none of it has anything to do with why Jesus came to earth and the life he wants us to live or the salvation he was us to attain. We don’t need to be able to define God or understand how the trinity works, how the incarnation occurred. We need to accept that it is real, that it did happen, and act on it. Faith isn’t as much about what you believe as it is about what you do. Faith is belief in action, and all those theological things don’t matter next to the big one. The one command Jesus gave.
Love. Love God. Love your neighbor.
When we put God first, he will lead us in the way he wants us to go. When we put our theology, our theory, or church doctrine first, we sin.
Trust in the lord and lean not on your own understanding.
Follow the Lord and he will make your paths straight.
Why do we try to define the indefinable? We are not called to a deep philosophical understanding. We are called to action.
Action defines faith, James said.
Do my will, Jesus said, or you have no part in me.
If you come to Christianity from the wrong direction, you’ll think its complicated. All these doctrines and creeds. Books and books of theology, Christology, Mariology. But it’s really, really simple.
Jesus loves you. He wants to teach you how to love. Become his student and he will provide everything you need for the rest of eternity.
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