What is Theology?
Theology is an expression of the truth. It is not the way a person sees the truth, but strives to express the absolute truth, that which always is. It does not matter whether or not this truth seems relevant to the times or to culture or whatever. It is simply truth.
To achieve this absoluteness, Biblical Theology relies only on the revealed word of God. It does not ultimately answer to traditions of men, to cultural influences, or to philosophies. It does not even rely on small portions of scripture, but instead attempts to collect all that scripture has to say on a given subject and then to communicate that truth in a comprehensive way.
To be sure the truth of theology may be expressed in slightly different ways as different people present it. This is due to the fact that Christian life is different for all people and God relates to individuals on different levels and in different ways. To maintain the absolute nature of truth, however, Theology refrains from giving single perspectives on the truths of Scripture. It instead tries to collect all of these insights to form a more accurate description of the truth. Different people see different sides of the truth. Theology based on scripture tries to give an all encompassing view of it.
Theology is not an end in itself. The truths it reveals from scripture serve as a guideline for how the Christian life should be lived and for how the Church should function. To this end some teachings of Theology are more central or important than others. Some teachings of Theology are more relevant to the Church and Christian life than other teachings.
To achieve this absoluteness, Biblical Theology relies only on the revealed word of God. It does not ultimately answer to traditions of men, to cultural influences, or to philosophies. It does not even rely on small portions of scripture, but instead attempts to collect all that scripture has to say on a given subject and then to communicate that truth in a comprehensive way.
To be sure the truth of theology may be expressed in slightly different ways as different people present it. This is due to the fact that Christian life is different for all people and God relates to individuals on different levels and in different ways. To maintain the absolute nature of truth, however, Theology refrains from giving single perspectives on the truths of Scripture. It instead tries to collect all of these insights to form a more accurate description of the truth. Different people see different sides of the truth. Theology based on scripture tries to give an all encompassing view of it.
Theology is not an end in itself. The truths it reveals from scripture serve as a guideline for how the Christian life should be lived and for how the Church should function. To this end some teachings of Theology are more central or important than others. Some teachings of Theology are more relevant to the Church and Christian life than other teachings.
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