What You Need to Know When Studying Theology → A More Beautiful Life Collective

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In this post, we are talking about what you need to know when studying theology. We cover 10 basic presuppositions to make sure that you get the most out of your study. Then, we look at some concerns and pitfalls that believers often fall into. We need to remember this: Studying theology should draw us closer to God in worship and humility. We have to get our hearts right to rightly study theology.

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.

It’s been a few weeks, but I’m glad to be back! This is episode 38 of Season 1 of A More Beautiful Life Collective Podcast. As we’ve been talking about over the previous several weeks of podcasts, we focused on creating a method of Christian living. The plan for the next several weeks is to break down my own personal statement of faith by overviewing each of the core 10 doctrines I listed in the episode on creating your personal statement of faith.

Though you may need to still do a deep dive into different areas of theology and doctrine depending on your current understanding of what you know, through this series you should walk away with some new thoughts about your doctrine. You should have an idea of the direction you would like to go in your research. Potentially, your understanding of doctrine should be clarified.

We are currently moving into the summer months so my plan is to continue releasing an episode a week throughout the summer. However, these episodes might be slightly shorter. If you would like to do your own study of creating your personal statement of faith, you can get my workbook on creating it in conjunction with your method of Christian Living. You can also get the full “Building Your Foundation” Study, which is an 11-week guide covering all of these doctrines. Get this study, listen to these episodes with a friend, and then discuss the episodes and the study together to go deeper in your faith.

Visit A More Beautiful Life Collective Shop for bible studies, planners, and other resources.

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Today, we will cover some important introductory thoughts about doctrines that I didn’t talk about in our personal statement of faith episode. If you haven’t listened to that one, go ahead and pause this one and listen in. That will help you understand why it’s so important to make a personal statement of faith and some basics about your statement of faith.

I taught the young adult Bible study at my church for years, and one time, my cousin said, “I like your classes, but I never really like the introductions. I just want to get to the point.” I see the point. Sometimes, it can seem like introductory material is kind of shallow and jumps from point to point. But, there’s a reason every author, speaker, writer, and teacher focuses some time on the introduction. You need to be in the right frame of mind to understand the material you are reading before you read it. You need to understand important key terms and you also need to recognize where the author is coming from so that you will be on the same page.

Today’s episode will get you on the same page as me. Think of it like the preparation that you put into a garden at the beginning of the season. You never just go out there and start throwing seeds everywhere. You begin by tilling, adding compost, making rows, and getting the soil right. Only then can you begin to put seeds in a way that they will grow and bear fruit.

To begin, we are going to talk about some presuppositions that we should have when studying theology. Then, I’m going to go in-depth on a few key points concerning those presuppositions.

Some Presuppositions for Studying Theology

In the study of logic, apologetics, or any type of argument, there always has to be a common ground that both arguers stand on. Again, in this episode, I’m showing you my heart about why I view this study of doctrine and theology as so important. As we look at these topics, we have to operate on a similar ground or we’ll just be upset with each other. Presuppositions are the ‘common ground’ that both arguers (presenters) in a debate stand on. The presuppositions must be true. They are not up for debate. They are commonly agreed upon.

Here are my presuppositions that you need to know before studying theology with me:

Objective truth exists. There is such a thing as clear right and clear wrong. We should desire to know what truth is in our lives.
We are commanded to study that truth, including systematic theology. We don’t need a seminary degree to have a decent understanding of theology or know Hebrew or Greek. (Though those studies can be helpful.)
This study takes time – in truth, a lifetime. And still, you will not know all there is to know. It also takes effort. You must set your hand ‘to the plow’ and focus.
Systematic theology requires us to have a definite answer. At some point we have to put our stake in the ground and claim what we say is truth. We can’t just stay out in the murky waters of “I don’t know” and not expect our faith to capsize at some point… or never take hold of our lives and bear fruit.
Don’t distract your studies with ‘myths and endless genealogies.’ Vain arguments, discussions that just lead to petty in-fighting, and continual splinting into smaller and smaller factions. These are all things that should not characterize your study of theology.
Though we will never fully know or understand all aspects of theology, we can know quite a bit about theology. At some level, God is knowable, even if God can’t be fully known.
Systematic theology is applicable to our daily lives.
Systematic theology leads us to worship and love God more as we know him more.
The overflow of your study should be a greater love for others and God. If you find yourself becoming cynical, prideful, or otherwise sinful, you need to analyze your motives and your heart.
Our knowledge of theology directly impacts our ability to evangelize and disciple others. It impacts our ability to bear fruit.

Don’t let the Caveat win: Planting your Stake in the ground when it comes to Doctrine

When I first started brainstorming my Statement of Faith, I was ready to sit down and knock it out. Then, I hit a wall. I realized it was really hard for me to put a pen to paper and have my beliefs written out in black and white. Maybe this is something that everyone has felt across the ages, but I have a feeling this is a particularly modern dilemma. With postmodern literary theory infecting our understanding of truth, we like we can never know objective truth. This leads to the idea of relativistic truth. The thinking goes if the truth is ‘in the mind of the thinker’, and there are 8 billion different thinkers out there. There must be 8 billion different kinds of truth. What is true for you is not true for me. It is relative to the person.

The first presupposition that we must have is that this modern conception of truth is fundamentally false. Truth is not established in the mind. It is established externally from humanity. It exists. From the Christian perspective, it is wrapped up in the being of God. Jesus says of himself, he is ‘the way, the truth, and the life.’

When we begin to place truth outside of our own minds, we grow to understand how fundamentally flawed the modern conception of truth is.

We don’t necessarily need degrees or credentials to know this truth. Just time, focus, and a willingness to study and learn. In addition to this, we need a willingness to claim the truth for ourselves. It means that at some point we need to say this is what I believe. This is the truth, and I am writing it down. I am exclaiming it. At some point, you have to move from the nebulous ‘I don’t know’ to say, I may not have it all right, but this is what my studies confirm.

One of the first posts on the blog was about how Caveats get in the way of our best mode of living. We have to move beyond saying all the reasons why something may not be exactly right or perfect, and move towards saying, this is it. This is what I am claiming. The doubt and wishy-washiness of modern belief systems are some of the primary reasons that people are so susceptible to having their beliefs destroyed by the storms of life. James 1:6 says, “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” Yes, you don’t want to be prideful about your beliefs, but if you are willing to have your whole life centered around Jesus as Lord, then you should be willing to make some truth-claims about your beliefs.

An Apologia for Creating a Thought Out Statement of Faith

As I said before, I talked about a few reasons why you should create your own personal statement of faith in our previous episode. To sum up what I said in that episode, creating your own personal statement of faith will lead you to understand what you believe better. In doing so, you will be able to take others’ beliefs – that you’ve heard at church, in books, from your parents, etc. – and take those beliefs on as your own. It’s the process of owning your beliefs.

However, that is definitely not the only reason for studying theology.

My Love Language is Studying Theology

Thomas Merton said, “Theology is the study of God. The study of God is simply to be enjoyed for its own incomparable subject, the One most beautiful, most worthy to be praised. Life with God delights in its very acts of thinking, reading, praying, and communing with that One most worthy to behold, pondered, and studied, not for its written artifacts or social consequences but for the joy in its object.”

Our understanding of theology benefits us in so many ways, but primarily the benefit is to turn our focus towards God. The ancients called this our ‘interior gaze.’ That interior gaze is the term for what our focus is on. When we turn our interior gaze away from our selfish desires and constant worrying thoughts, we begin to dwell on the magnitude of God. By turning our gaze toward him, we are transformed. We transcend the worries and cares of this life when we look upon the transcendent God. When he is the object of our focus, we catch a glimpse of heaven.

Theology is the time when we contemplate the deep things of God that he has chosen to reveal to us. Through studying theology, we come to know and love him more.

If our first two reasons focused on a love of self and others, the last reason focused on the love of God. It is only through the study of theology that can we truly love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.

Studying Theology by Dogfooding Your Beliefs

Years ago, I listened to a podcast describing a teaching strategy for classroom teachers called ‘Dogfooding.’ Derived from the time when the president of pet food manufacturing company ate a can of dog food in a shareholder’s meeting to demonstrate faith in his product, dogfooding has become a common business term. Basically, every time that you require someone else to walk through a process, buy a product, or even complete a worksheet – you should do it yourself. In doing so, you’ll figure out what works, what doesn’t, and will be able to make the necessary tweaks. You should never think that someone will want to buy something that you aren’t willing to buy yourself. Similarly, you should never try to force a child to learn something using a method that you don’t enjoy or find easy to use.

Why bring this up?

One crucial goal or mission of the Christian is to go and make disciples that love God and understand the message of the gospel. This is what we think of when we think of evangelism or missions. The idea of making disciples can sometimes bring up a shallow image of the man on the street corner yelling out to others as they go past, “You’re going to hell, and you’re going to hell. All y’all people are going to hell.” (An evangelistic tactic I heard of from one of my friends who went to a Southeastern college years ago.) Yes, the first step in conversion is hearing the word. Romans 10:14 in the Bible asks, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?”

But, the work of training disciples doesn’t just stop when we have told the people the news of the kingdom. That is the first step. But, then, the real training commences. Just like in our own Christian walk, where baptism is the first step in a whole lifetime journey of faith, our work teaching others begins first with hearing.

But, how can we tell others what we believe when we don’t really know it ourselves? And, how can we expect others to believe it if we haven’t presented something to them that we actually know, agree with, and believe wholeheartedly?

We want to present a clear message that is thought out. A message that we will hold on to till our dying breath. We can’t just wash our hands and say “I don’t know man. I just try my best.”

We may not know all the answers, but we should desire to get as close as possible to the truth that we know is right. To get as close to objective truth as possible both for our own understanding of our faith and our witness. We need to be studying theology to deepen our understanding and faith.

Doctrines, then Apologetics

Classical Education actually talks about these different branches of theology and how they interplay with each other. In the Classical Education formation, Theology was the Queen of the Sciences (Think of the sciences like Arts and Sciences – though the delineation between subjects was totally different than what you know now. Arts were skill-based (Math, Rhetoric, etc), and sciences were knowledge-based (Literature, Natural sciences, theology).) Theology has three branches: Doctrine, Ethics, and Apologetics. Each of these branches naturally flows into the next. Doctrine must be known first, which then impacts your ethics. Each of these helps you to make a defense of your faith.

We must know doctrine first to make a ‘case for Christ.’ If one of our primary goals in life is to increase the kingdom, getting our doctrine sorted should be of primary importance to us. Through studying theology, we can make a defense of our faith.

What is the overflow of studying theology?

Luke 6:45 says, “A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.”

One idea that I’ve come back to again and again is this question: What is the overflow of what I am doing?

I’ve written a lot about habits, routines, and rhythms. I wholeheartedly believe that good habits should lead to good things being stored up in your heart. If you find that good is not in your heart, then I believe there is a misunderstanding. There is something wrong. Something is incongruous. That good thing might be as good as you think it is.

With all these reasons why we should be studying theology, could there be any reason why we shouldn’t? Well, yes. If studying theology leads to pride, then there is something wrong with it. If studying theology leads to petty infighting between believers, there is something wrong with it. If studying theology leads to doubt or obviously wrong teachings, there is something wrong with it.

We always need to remember that studying theology should bring us closer to the heart of God. Through studying theology, we should grow in holiness and righteousness. We should grow in our likeness in the image of Christ. If we are not growing in this, we need to change what we are doing.

What are some guidelines for keeping our hearts right while studying theology?

Do your study in a community
Place yourself under the authority of other believers, particularly the church
Ground your study in prayer, asking the Spirit to illuminate the truth
The culmination of your study should be greater love in community and worship – and including times of fellowship and worship in your routine will help that to happen.
Scripture should interpret scripture and your beliefs should align with each other. If you find yourself finding something that seems contradictory or difficult to understand, it might be your belief that is wrong.

Over the next 10 episodes, we are going to be diving deep into 10 different core key doctrines of the faith. If you would like to follow along, be sure to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also get a copy of our workbook, “Building Your Foundation,” to work through these doctrines with me.

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

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