Length: 4 minutes

We’ve never really liked the word “theology.” For those that don’t know, that would mean “the study of God.” If you get to know your wife, you wouldn’t call it “wife-ology.” Because you have a relationship with her and you’re just getting to know her. The same thing with your kids or anyone that you love. 

I’m not saying that everyone who calls themself a “theologian” doesn’t know God legitimately, or that everyone who uses the word “theology” is doing so in a harmful way. What I am saying is that perceiving your time with the Lord as “theology” certainly skews the perception that you should have about getting to know the One that loves you. He’s not a topic to study. He loved you and provided so much for you through His Son. He just wants you to know it so that you can receive it and enjoy it. 

On top of the “relationship” aspect, theology also suggests that we can get to know God through studying (and no, “study to show yourself approved” is not the word “study” that I’m using right now. That word just means “diligence.”). Trust me, I’m not against spending time reading the Bible or talking to the Lord. If that’s what you’re calling “studying” that’s fine. But you can’t study God like all the other “ologies” out there. If it was up to our studying, we could never know the Lord. The spiritual things that Jesus has provided us cannot be understood at all by human intellect (1 Corinthians 2:14).

We certainly need to spend time with the Lord, but you can’t know Jesus by merely sitting down at your kitchen table and applying your mind to it. If that were the case, then the smartest people could know Jesus the best. But that’s not the case. Jesus is a person that you need to trust to speak to you. It’s only by His Spirit that we can understand who He truly is. 

1 Corinthians 1:21, 2:10 (NKJV) For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God… But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. 

The Lord needs to reveal Jesus’ work to us. We cannot study Him with our intellect to figure Him out. And for this reason, I find that some of the silliest people in the church today call themselves theologians. I’m not applying this to everyone that calls themself a theologian, but studying God like that will make you silly. People that study God like a topic sound to me like they don’t know God at all. You’ll hear them quote a lot of verses, a lot of biblical history, and a lot of Greek and Hebrew, but their conclusions about the nature of God will sound like they’re talking about a different person. 

I don’t think it’s a mistake that all of the theologians and scribes, who studied God the hardest, in the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry, were the ones that didn’t even recognize Jesus when He came! They applied their intellect, studied long, and yet did not see Jesus. 

John 5:39 (NKJV) You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

Applying your intellect to the Lord and treating Him like a topic will make you full of philosophies and yet spiritually illiterate —  overlooking the simple truth of Jesus. The Bible says as much:

1 Corinthians 1:20 (NKJV) Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

So many people have studied themselves silly. They have read all the books, consulted all the commentaries, gone to all the seminars, and yet have not arrived at the knowledge of the truth. They have only confused themselves further. 

2 Timothy 3:7 (NKJV) …always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

So how do you know if you’re studying (in a bad sense) or just listening to the Lord? It’s simply a matter of who you’re trusting (Proverbs 3:5-6). If you lean on your own understanding, or you’re leaning on the understanding of your commentaries, books, and concordances to give you revelation — then you’re just studying, like any carnal person. 

But if you look to Him to speak to you… knowing that you have no hope of ever realizing Him, unless He speaks to you… knowing that one word from Him is better than a thousand books by a learned man… knowing that the real word of God is living within you… if you’re willing to let Him break everything a man has ever taught you, to simply see Jesus… then you’re really listening to Him. 

It’s so much simpler than people make it out to be. People invented theology, but God just wants us to see Jesus.

…If you enjoyed this, share it with someone else. More people need to understand this awesome truth!