Semper Theologia?

 Why Semper Theologia? Semper Theologia is Latin for, "Always Theology". 

In his Reformed Systematic Theology - Part 1, Joel Beeke writes, "Theology is the study of God and his relationship to the world, especially his relationships with human beings." He goes on to state, "Theology aims at the fulfillment of man’s created purpose: to glorify God and enjoy him forever in obeying God’s will by God’s grace."

We are to love the Lord and have a relationship with Him. In order to have a relationship with someone we must possess a knowledge of what makes them themselves. What good is it to say to my wife, "I love you," but make no effort in knowing who she is as a person? It is the same way with God. How can we say, "I love God" without first deeply studying who He is and how He works? Can we obey His commands without studying He who commands?

Getting our theology correct is very important. If we are not correct in our theology we are not worshipping the true God and instead are caught in idolatry. As Thomas Aquinas once said, "Theology is taught by God, teaches about God, and leads to God," and, "Theology leads us to worship God." Right theology leads to right doxology.

However, it is important to remember that theology does not save you. No matter how correct you are about the facts of God, that knowledge does not save you from punishment for sins. Only our Lord Jesus' substitutionary sacrifice on the cross can do that. Take for example the thief on the cross. He was never baptized, he had no understanding of the Lord's Supper, certainly he did not know what to think about soteriology or eschatology. But, as Alastair Begg preaches, when he arrives in heaven and the angel asks, "On what grounds are you here" the thief's only response is, "The man on the middle cross said I could come."

When it comes to theology, we simply cannot know everything. Martin Luther once quipped, "Finitum non capax infiniti" - "The finite cannot contain the infinite." God is beyond all human understanding. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." However, through a condescension of Himself, God makes Himself known through His divine revelation of Scripture. Now, what is a mere cup in comparison to the vastness of the ocean can contain but a sliver of the ocean within its walls. In his book, The Preeminence of Christ, Paul Washer writes, "This is one of the great problems and inevitable sorrows whenever we study even the most minute aspect of the gospel—it is infinite! It is worthy not merely of a lifetime but of an eternity of study."

Theology is my passion because knowing who God is IS my passion. I love to share that passion with others. Pouring over scripture to uncover the mysteries of God is a love I cannot contain. Knowing who He is and why He wants to have a relationship with me and how He has that relationship is an unending journey full of love and enlightenment. As Charles Spurgeon once said, "The most excellent study for expanding the soul is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will do enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the soul of man, as a devout, Ernest, continued investigation of the great subject of the deity."

Thank you for reading!