What is Theology Proper?: 3 Questions to Help You Know God Better → A More Beautiful Life Collective

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S1E40 – What is Theology Proper?: 3 Questions to Help You Know God Better – A More Beautiful Life Collective Podcast

We have to start our study of theology by looking at Theology Proper. This is the study of who God is, what God is like, and what God’s nature is. As we look at theology proper, we are focusing primarily on how knowing God more leads to (1) worship and (2) a deeper love. Our study of God should inspire us to know and love God more and more. This podcast will dive into 3 questions that will help you to know God better to start your study of Theology Proper. The Deuteronomy 34 passage is actually EXODUS* 34:5-7. Sorry! View the full post here. Get the Doctrine and Theology Cheat Sheet Here. Get a list of the names of God here. Get a copy of our personal statement of faith creation guide here. Get “Building Our Foundations: 10 Week Study” here. . Visit our Shop to get a copy of any of the resources mentioned in this episode: Read the full post here. I’m your host, Cayce Fletcher, and you can learn a little bit more about me here. While you’re here, would you consider leaving a comment, rating, or review? You can find our podcast, A More Beautiful Life Collective Podcast, wherever you listen to podcasts. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or watch on YouTube. Subscribe to the blog for access to our latest content and some freebies. I love creating and sharing resources with you. You can find all of our resources at A More Beautiful Life Collective Shop. Keep creating a life you love, and cultivating your heart for God.

Hey everyone and welcome to Season 1 Episode 40! This week, we are jumping into our first area of doctrine and theology: Theology Proper. We are starting at the place where it all begins and ends: With the study of God. This is part of our series on Building Our Foundations. You can get your own copy of the workbook that goes along with this on the AMBL shop.

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Theology proper is the study of God. When we start to study theology proper, we are concerning ourselves with questions about the nature of God, his attributes, and the way he interacts with mankind. This is actually one of the most daunting areas of theology as a whole, but we have to start with a right understanding of who God is.

Like I mentioned in our last episode, which introduced 10 presuppositions for studying theology, we will never know all there is to know about theology. We will never know all there is to know about an infinite God. But, we can know something. In fact, we can know quite a lot.

I believe that the Bible is an invitation to know God better. Throughout scriptures from the Old Testament to the New, God is calling people into relationship with him- to know him, love him, serve him, and obey him. The Bible is written so that we can know God. The Bible’s primary purpose is to deepen our knowledge of Theology Proper.

A crucial text is John 17:3: “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

In this passage, Jesus is praying his high priestly prayer. He prays for himself, his disciples, and all believers throughout the ages. This verse is remarkable because Jesus establishes that (1) we can know God and (2) that eternal life hinges on our ability to know God. Eternal life is knowing God (and Jesus). Eternal life is growing in our knowledge of Theology Proper.

So, where should we start?

Now, that we have established that knowing God is possible, commanded, and salvific, we come to the next question: What does it mean to know God?

We can look to our own personal relationships with each other to guide our questions.

First, we ask who is this person? Who do I know that they know? Do we have any connections? You situate yourself in relation to them so that you know who this person is.
Then, we begin to ask questions about the person’s characteristics and interests. What do they do for a living? What do they like to do for fun? Ultimately, we are trying to figure out what this person is like. Over time, you begin to learn deeper information about that person. It could come in the form of a story from that person’s past, or it could be when someone does something that surprises you, like performing a skit in front of church or crack a hilarious, unexpected joke. Doing life together reveals important information about that person that you would never get in an introductory small talk conversation.
Finally, deepness in a relationship comes through long talks and weathering difficult circumstances together. You begin to understand that person’s heart, and the measure of integrity and character they have is revealed through fire. This takes a long time, and can only be accomplished with time.

So, what does that mean for us today? We can begin to answer the first two questions: Who is God and what is he like? But, you only learn the depths of knowledge of God over time. Today, I’ll present some ideas to try to answer those questions, but you have to commit the time to study and spend time with God to know him on the deep level that you should.

So let’s dive in.

Theology Proper Question #1: Who is God? What is his name?

When you first meet someone, the question you almost always start with is “Hi, what’s your name?” Interestingly, we almost always skip over this question when it comes to God. Knowing God means that we know his name because that differentiates him from all other gods. This is a great first place to start in our study of Theology Proper.

When we talk about God, we often use the term God as God’s actual proper name. I know that I do this, and you probably do too. But, this is actually just a title, like mother, father, or king.

When God was first calling the Israelite people out of Egypt to be his people, he told Moses his name: “I am who I am” or “He that is.” Then, he went on to say, “This will be my name forever, and thus, I am to be remembered throughout the ages.” This name was written as a tetragrammation YHWH which we pronounce, ‘Yahweh.’ Jehovah is the Latin equivalent and is sometimes used in Christian circles. Jewish people thought this name too sacred to say out loud and sometimes even write, so they frequently substituted other names for God.

Yahweh was the name that God gave to himself, and it’s derived from the verb ‘to be.’ This speaks to God’s self-existence and self-sufficiency. He is the creator of life and the sustainer of life. Because he exists, all other things exist.

Throughout the Old Testament, other names were given to God which speaks to the different facets of his being. Some of these include:

El Shaddai: God Almighty
Elohim: God Creator, Mighty and Strong
Adonai: Lord, often used in place of Yahweh
Yahweh-Jireh: The Lord will provide
Yahweh-Nissi: The Lord our banner
El-Roi: The God who sees

The first step towards knowing God rests in knowing his name: Yahweh is our father, lord, and god.

Theology Proper Question #2: What is God like?

We get a glimpse of the nature of God just by studying the names of God used throughout the Bible. He is creator, self-sustaining, mighty, strong, a provider, and our Lord.

And, God is so much more than this. As I said before, the whole Bible is God beckoning us to know him better. It’s beckoning us to a deeper understanding of Theology Proper. Moses, the same person who was first revealed the name of God, also got a description of who God is from God’s own lips.

Deuteronomy 34:5-7 says, “5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.””

This shows who God is. He is both compassionate and just. Holy and merciful.

The rest of the Bible reiterates these characteristics or attributes of God. Why is it important to know them? We want to know more about God as we grow in relationship with him to help us love him more. AND, we want to know more about God in order to grow to be more like God.

Throughout the law, God repeats over and over, “Be holy because I am holy” (Lev. 19:2). The Israelite people were supposed to take on the attribute of holiness simply because God is a holy God. If they want to be his chosen people, they would have to look like him. We also are commanded to take on certain attributes of God, like love, compassion, graciousness, and mercy. If we look at the fruit of the spirit, we see a description of the attributes of God, and we are supposed to grow that fruit as well.

These attributes are called the communicable attributes of God because we are able to acquire these attributes as we conform to the image of God. The whole Christian walk is us growing in these attributes. At the end of time, we are supposed to realize the attributes completely as we become completely sinless and perfect in the kingdom.

When we look at who God is, I think it is so important to study what God says he is like from his own words and descriptions. The Bible is full of these descriptions, written either explicitly like we read before or implicitly through the stories of the Bible. When we study theology proper, we should first start by studying the Bible before we read any other philosophy or random thoughts about people speculating on what God is like.

Importantly, we have to recognize that the very definition of these attributes is based on God. To use the example I mentioned in the last episode, we know that God is love. Much of the New Testament rephrased that Leviticus command to be, “Be loving because God is love.” But, we can’t define what love is based on the world’s definition. We will misconstrue love, who God is, and what we are supposed to do. Instead, we base the definition of love on what we know about God. God defines what love is.

Theology Proper Question #3: What is his nature?

The communicable attributes of God are traits we can take on. The opposite of these attributes are the incommunicable attributes of God, which are traits that only God has. This means you can test other gods, and if they do not have these things, they wouldn’t be God. These are tests for who God is.

Some of these traits include:

Sovereign
Infinite
Eternal, Immortal
Immanent (existing in the created world, not far off)
Transcendent
Self-existent (Aseity)
Creator
Immutable
Omniscient
Omnipresent
Omnipotent
Impeccable
Immaterial (Some would disagree with this trait)

The incommunicable attributes of God describe God’s nature. They describe what it means to be God Almighty. Only Yahweh has these traits. He is the only being that has ever had them or could ever have them.

As we look through this list, we begin to get a grasp of the magnitude of God and just how different he is from us. Understanding the nature of God leads to reverence for him and a greater trust in him. Like Job, we approach God with humility when we get a glimpse of the sheer magnificence of him.

Focusing on the Magnificence of God

I mentioned at the beginning that our study of Theology Proper should lead to our worship and a deeper love for God. Reading the descriptions of God should inspire this worship and love.

2 key passages that highlight the holiness of God and the reverence we should have for him are Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4-5.

Isaiah 6:1-4 says, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” ⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.”

Revelation 4:2-11 says, “2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”

9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

The more we ground our understanding of who God is on scripture rather than the world or philosophy, the more that we will be moved to worship. We will revere and fear God because of who he is.

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My Faith Statement

At the end of each of these episodes, I’m going to ask you some questions to get you thinking about what we’ve talked about so that you can formulate your own statement of faith.

Today, we’ve talked about Theology Proper, which is the Study of God.

What is God’s name? Why is this significant?
How would you describe God? What are his most important characteristics?
What is the nature of God?

My Statement of Faith:

God is Yahweh, Lord Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. He is gracious, merciful, compassionate, loving, and just. He alone is sovereign over all, all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present. He is eternal, infinite, and immortal. He is the giver and sustainer of life.

Who do you say God is? What’s your statement of faith?

What’s the takeaway?

I hope that this has led you to focus more on who God is. As we think about Yahweh, God the Father, we should stand in awe of who he is. Who he is leads us to a posture of worship.

We should also have another takeaway and to learn that we need to read Deuteronomy 6:1-9. It says, “These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

In this passage, we read Moses reemphasizing the importance of the law. The Shema, which is made up of verses 4-5, is a key passage for the Jewish people. It’s reiterated as the Greatest Commandment by Jesus. We have to recognize from this passage that Yahweh is the only true God. He is the father. He is one.

This truth should lead to our faithful love. We love God with our whole being and recognize that he alone is our God and Lord. This truth also should lead to us guiding our households to this faithful love and obedience to God. We have to teach our children to be obedient to God, to enter into the covenant with him.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode today, and I hope you join us next week as we talk about the study of the Bible. You can get your copy of Building our Foundations in the shop.

Until next week, keep creating a life you love, and cultivating your heart for God.

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