Let me say this with as much clarity as I can marshal: Theology is a human activity in response to divine calling. Theology is religion, a mere expression of faith. Theology is not wisely discerning objective truth about God, because there is no such thing as objective truth about God. Truth is God’s personal moral character, an element of His living Presence. Theology is just a tool, one that can be modified as needed and discarded when it wears out. Your theology is not eternal; it will remain here in this world when you go home to be with God in Heaven.
My theology is just a part of me. Your theology cannot be mine, nor vice versa. If we overlap, the common ground says more about us than it does about God. That we have a common ground says something about God and how He intends to work in us.
Human intellect cannot be made un-fallen. Intellect is redeemed only in surrendering to something eternal in you — your heart-mind. Theology can never be more than a human effort to organize and implement faith. You cannot trust your theology to answer all the questions; treat your theology as a mere tool, a provisional set of handles for grabbing hold of reality. Reality itself is fungible, so theology cannot possible be any less ephemeral.
People who take their theology too seriously are actually taking themselves too seriously. Idolizing your own intellect is called “sin.”
A hearty amen, God remains eternal and consistant. My understanding of his requirements of me change as I grow in knowledge of Him as a person and my relationship to Him so, it follows my theology changes too. That’s what I got out of this post. I hadn’t thought of it that way, thank you Ed I learned something. Yayyy… ain’t it great?
I’m blessed to serve you, Iain.
Vaguely related to this post: We read John 9 in my small group last week (notice the Hellenism in verse 16, even the side that seemed a little sympathetic towards Jesus). Was there a reason why the Pharisees had a problem with Jesus healing specifically, in this instance? Surely there were people in the area working on the Sabbath that they didn’t care about. The Pharisees could’ve just let Him be; even with their Hellenism, there was no reason why they could do their own thing while Jesus did His own. Was it a show of power? Something in between the lines I’m not seeing?
The Pharisees pretended to be a regulatory body over rabbis. Jesus didn’t meet their enhanced demands held for for all rabbis. They did use it as an excuse to pick on Him because they were unable to answer genuine doctrinal challenges Jesus made.