Sunday, May 15, 2005
Where Theology Doesn't Matter?!
Jollyblogger had a real rambler this past week. (HT: Adrian Warnock) He frames his post around a discussion of the theology of NT Wright, but hits on a lot of points. I liked this one
God matters more than what we believe about God, that is to say theology. And God is, ultimately beyond our comprehension. But one has to believe that the closer we are to God the more what we believe about Him will be both true, and in accord with others that are also close to Him.
But in the end, the key word is humility. We never know it all.
But who decides and how do we decide what is central to the Christian faith, or what is of utmost importance in the theological encyclopedia? We all intuitvely suspect that some doctrines are more important than others - i.e. what you believe about justification is more important than what you believe about baptism or eschatology. But then again, on what basis do we believe this? Do the Scriptures contain a table of contents or an answer key which tell which matters are of utmost importance and which are peripheral? They don't. So what justification do we have for saying that one's view of imputation is more important than one's view of something else?David hits a great balance here. But I might phrase it differently.
Well, I said I was only asking questions but I'll take a stab at that last one. Romans 14 is a classic passage on the fact that there are some matters that are legitimately disputable and it is reasonable to conclude that they are therefore, lesser matters. Those are things that we are to agree to disagree on. Then Romans 16:17 tells us to mark those who cause divisions and stay away from them. There are some matters which we ought to divide over - these are weightier matters. Hence, there is Scriptural warrant for believing that some matters are more important than others.
The book of Galatians gives us a clue to what the weightiest matters are - matters pertaining to the gospel. I realize that Galatians is a battleground between Wright and his critics but I'll skip that debate for now and simply point out that the gospel is central here.
Having said all of that, we've got very rough Scriptural outlines for determining what doctrines are of utmost importance. But we want to be careful about this. We should all have the humility to admit that our ideas of what is most important are often governed by extra-biblical factors. In the reformation era disputes over the nature of the sacraments were life and death matters, today they are matters of yawning for most evangelicals. In my own reformed tradtion there are all kinds of arguments about what is of utmost importance. I have had my salvation called into question because of statements to the effect that we can enjoy fellowship with Arminians and Dispensationalists, and have also been chastized for placing too much importance on the five points of Calvinism.
God matters more than what we believe about God, that is to say theology. And God is, ultimately beyond our comprehension. But one has to believe that the closer we are to God the more what we believe about Him will be both true, and in accord with others that are also close to Him.
But in the end, the key word is humility. We never know it all.
