Posted on 01/10/2005 5:15:03 AM PST by HarleyD
What Shape is Your Theology?
"I’m no theologian." Oh, yes you are.
Everyone is a theologian. Are you human? Then you are a theologian. Every one of us is a natural-born theologian. This accounts for the tremendous variety of religions among us. From Animism to Zen, from Zoroastrianism to Atheism — everyone is a theologian.
Theology is nothing more than ideas about God. Everyone has ideas about God. Everyone is a theologian.
But that doesn’t mean that everyone is a good theologian. In fact, by nature, we are all lousy theologians. St. Paul puts it this way in the first chapter of Romans:
What may be known about God is plain to [all men], because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-- his eternal power and divine nature-- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
We are natural-born theologians. But we are fallen people; and so our theology is fallen too. Paul continues: Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Man-shaped, bird-shaped, animal-shaped, reptile-shaped theologies; this is the shape of our fallen theology.
And what do all those theologies have in common? Paul says, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him… [but they] exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images.
Paul is saying that instead of giving Glory to God as God, fallen man seeks that glory for himself. It began in the Garden of Eden. You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God…" In all of his fallen theologizing, man seeks but one thing for himself: the glory that belongs to God alone. This is the Theology of Glory.
The Theologian of Glory vs. the Theologian of the Cross.
Scripture says, There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. The way that seems right to a man is the theology of Glory. We are all natural-born theologians of Glory. A theologian of Glory believes that:
1. God’s ways can be generally understood by human reason;
2. God’s favor is manifested in the circumstances of life, in particular, life’s successes and victories;
3. God is pleased by sincere human effort.
All the religions of the world, except for Christianity, are theologies of Glory. Whether it manifests itself as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism or some strange cult, it is all essentially the same theology and it is all the theology of Glory. The theology of Glory is the way that leads to death.
But Christian theology is fundamentally different. Christianity is not a theology of Glory, but a theology of the Cross. This is how Paul contrasts the two:
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
In complete contrast to the theologian of Glory, the theologian of the Cross believes that:
1. God’s ways are paradoxical and hidden to human reason;
2. God’s favor is manifested in Jesus, in particular, His suffering, death and resurrection;
3. God is pleased only by Jesus.
The theology of Glory and the theology of the Cross are mutually exclusive. They are two completely different ways of understanding God. One is false, the other is true. One leads to death, the other to life.
The God Who Hides Himself.
Regarding the theologian of Glory, Martin Luther wrote:
That person does not deserve to be called a theologian who looks upon the invisible things of God as though they were clearly perceptible in those things which have actually happened.
What are the "invisible things of God"? This question brings us back to the first chapter of Romans:
What may be known about God is plain to [all men], because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-- his eternal power and divine nature-- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.
Virtually every religion acknowledges that their gods possess certain characteristics: life, wisdom and power. Many further speculate that their gods possess qualities like justice, love and mercy. However, God’s true disposition remains completely hidden from them.
How is God disposed toward me? Is he pleased or displeased? To answer this question the theologian of Glory must speculate based upon his own life’s circumstances. If things are going well in his life he concludes that God is pleased with him.
Why is God pleased with me? The theologian of Glory speculates further and draws the only conclusion that his theology will allow:
God is pleased with me because I have pleased Him.
But if things are not going well, God must not be pleased, and more effort to please Him is required.
Isaiah writes, Truly you are a God who hides himself, O God and Savior of Israel. God’s gracious disposition toward us is not revealed in the visible things God has made —it remains hidden— leaving the theologian of Glory to speculate. The theologian of Glory wrongly believes that he can discern God’s disposition from the world around him. The god he invents is a god whose disposition can be manipulated with human works.
But if God is really a God Who hides Himself, then why does God hide Himself? The answer is a paradox. God hides Himself in order to reveal Himself.
Where does God hide Himself? The answer is another paradox. God, Who is all-powerful, hides Himself in weakness. God, Who is all wise, hides Himself in foolishness. God, Who is living, hides Himself in death.
Here is where the theologian of Glory begins to object. God is not weak, foolish or dead! And here the theologian of Glory shows his true colors. Luther rightly diagnosed the problem:
This is clear: He who does not know Christ does not know God hidden in suffering. Therefore he prefers works to suffering, glory to the cross, strength to weakness, wisdom to folly, and, in general, good to evil. These are the people whom the apostle calls "enemies of the cross of Christ" [Phil. 3:18], for they hate the cross and suffering and love works and the glory of works.
To know Jesus Christ is to know God hidden in weakness, foolishness and death. Luther writes: He deserves to be called a theologian, however, who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the Cross.
Rather than looking to the circumstances of his life to decipher God’s disposition, the theologian of the Cross looks to the suffering and death of Jesus to know God’s disposition. Rather than speculating that God must be pleased by human effort, the theologian of the Cross sees in Christ crucified the One who has pleased God once and for all. Life’s circumstances, whatever they might be, are now comprehended in the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus.
The theologian of Glory defines God according to human concepts of power, wisdom and reason. The theologian of the Cross allows God to define Himself, regardless of how paradoxical, weak and foolish it may appear.
The Cross is Our Theology
Here I must sadly note that Christians are not immune to the theology of Glory. The glory of works outshines the shame of the Cross in many churches today. Pulpits free of paradox proclaim the Christian rather than the Christ. God is presented as easily understandable and easily pleased. This is a god who does not require a Cross or a dead Jesus.
In short, the Church seems anxious to exchange the shame, weakness and foolishness of the Cross for human glory, strength and wisdom. To a group of Christians who seemed anxious to do the same Paul wrote, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…
What is Paul saying? He is saying that the Cross isn’t just a part of our theology; the Cross IS our theology. The Cross permits no speculation about God or His disposition. There, written in the broken body and shed blood of Jesus His Son, is God’s final word.
Something I've found interesting in regards of how people question God's actions.
The cross is such an interesting thing. The tool to kill slaves becomes the symbol of hope and salvation - it is truly for Christians a place where Heaven and earth come together in the loving self-sacrifice of Jesus. On it, our Emmanuel, God With Us, Jesus, stretches out his arms in a loving embrace to all of humanity. His own blood stains the lintel of this new Passover, and God the Father does what he did not require Abraham to go through with, the sacrifice of his son. Timeless, this one cross becomes a beacon, a sign of foolishness to the unbeliever but the very source of light and life to those who answer its call.
Like Paul, I will glory in nothing except Christ crucified.
At The Foot of Your Cross
Lord,
here I am,
once again,
at the foot of your cross.
All around me are the howling winds,
the darkness.
Like the Magdalene,
I cling to your cross,
my only anchor,
and press my cheek
against its rough
and bloodstained wood.
Here is the only shelter I know
as the hurricane blows.
Here,
I look up into your eyes,
eyes filled with such an intensity of love
that I cannot fathom it,
and all the tears of my misery
pour out,
grief and guilt and remorse and sorrow,
for what we have done to you,
what I have done to you,
and what you have chosen to do for love.
What have I to give
equal to the glory of your love?
naked as I feel
beneath the light of your love,
Yet I wish to give it all -
my aching and sorrow, my hope,
my wisdom, my voice, my everything
all for you -
such a small offering in return
for what you have given,
but like the widow's mite,
thank you for letting me offer it.
Here,
at the foot of your cross,
let me make my stand,
now, and always.
or change the music too radically, either...You want to get complaints, pick the wrong songs...
" treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these." 2 Tim 3:4-5
Sadly our congregations don't seem to care in avoiding these things.
Oh, ow.
Dan
My only quibbly little gripe: always source quotations!
Dan
Biblical Christianity web site
Biblical Christianity message board
Biblical Christianity BLOG
This verse has been running in my mind a lot lately...so much shallowness in the name of Christ...
You are so right. There is much shallowness. It makes it so difficult to keep focus that nothing we do can please God. It is only what the Christ has done and we must be driven by Him.
Just because the laws of physics apply to everyone, doesn't make everyone a physicist. That is not to say that every human cannot learn how to run, walk, jump and throw.
1. God’s ways can be generally understood by human reason;
1. God’s ways are paradoxical and hidden to human reason;
What may be known about God is plain to [all men], because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-- his eternal power and divine nature-- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
The Cross permits no speculation about God or His disposition.
I'm not sure if I want to wrestle with the author on this one.
As I hear Paul, Romans specifies two things natural revelation will tell us: God's existence, and His power. Beyond that, we're cast back on special revelation.
Dan
True but we're not talking about physics. Everyone has some sort of concept of God (even atheists) and that, by nature, makes them a theologian. Christians would be hard press to argue that they should NOT become well verse in theology when it is through theology we understand God. The issue becomes whether our theology is correct.
Of course this has been debated and discussed at great length over the centuries. Consider that great apologists -and the scriptures they employ- have shown belief in the One True God to be reasonable. I'm not convinced that reason is the villain it is sometimes portrayed to be, but rather the soul that uses/misuses it. Thus spiritual things are not nonsense (or paradox), but nonsense to the natural man. Adam's fall did not affect the transcendent God nor did it affect the laws of logic. It did hamper the ability of man to use it.
>> Everyone has some sort of concept of [physics] (even [Luddites]) and that, by nature, makes them a [physicist]. [Scientists] would be hard press to argue that they should NOT become well verse in [physics] when it is through [physics] we understand [the physical universe]. The issue becomes whether our [physics are] correct. <<
:^)
I whole-heartedly agree with the notion that all Christians should study theology, just as all scientists should study physics. My point was to emphasize the fact that just ahving some vague notion of the laws of the universe (whether physics or theology) does not make one either a physicist or a theologian.
Just like physics, there is one truth in theology. Just like physics, many essentials required for living a decent life can be readily discerned. Just like physics, this common-sense experiences can cloud larger truths. Just as a man would be a fool to listen to a sicentist who told him that the laws of nature had been changed, and he may now safely walk off ledges, a Christian must rely on his own wisdom when theologians tell him to do evil things. But just like physics, one must study with academic rigor, and become more knowledgeable than the past experts before he can teach his findings as truth.
Universal truth lies in our intellect, not in our feelings, althogh our feelings can sustain our inquiry. Yet, the various bishops and preachers of the world are like mere teachers; it is the great saints who are our engineers in the science of God. We do well to learn as we are taught, but we should not fancy ourselves all to be experts, substituting our own thoughts for the wisdom of the great saints, for they have read the same book we have, and have mastered its lessons far better.
If we fancy ourselves as experts then we commit the first "sin" of the "Theology of Glory"; "1. God’s ways can be generally understood by human reason;" . I’m sure we would agree that when we look to those who have mastered the lessons far better than us; it’s those people who walk the talk in a spirit of humility with God. Teaching doesn’t always happen in school.
***substituting our own thoughts for the wisdom of the great saints***
Then who defines who the great Saints are?
(I have a feeling I know who you will say)
Who are the great saints? Those who most resemble Christ in their living and loving. Most of them are never known, but God has let a few of them stand out as inspirations and models to the rest of us...
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