Is Theology important for us Christians? The simple answer is basically “YES”! Generally, the English word “theology” is defined as the “study of God.” It came from the two Greek words “theos” meaning “God,” and “logos” which means “word,” “study,” or “reasoning.”

In other words, “theology” is about the study of God, reflection on and understanding of all things in relation to God as He has revealed Himself in His Word.

All people somehow have their own theology. It is either bad or good theology.

Sadly, there are Christians who think that theology is not that important. With this reality, many malpractices in ministry and life are being committed because of the lack of understanding of the importance of theology, or sound theology to be exact.

Perhaps you once thought that theology could be dangerous and could draw you away from God. Well, that’s true. Only if there’s mishandling of Scripture and a wrong condition of heart and mind toward God. Mishandling of God’s Word begets severe consequences both to yourself and our hearers.

Remember that a committed and faithful Christian in their relationship with Jesus is also a committed and faithful student of God, diligently studying Him through His inspired and revealed Word, the Bible. The aim of any diligent student of God’s Word is to be transformed and to enjoy God’s beauty through the rediscovery of old but gold truths about God that make a person grow in Christlikeness (Ezra 7:10). Sound theology refines our knowledge of God, realigns our hearts, refreshes our souls, and spirits.

I have at least three practical reminders to help us refine our theology and bear good fruit in our lives as followers of the Lord Jesus.

Sound Theology is a Must

Do not just aim for theology. Aim for “sound theology.” It means healthy, holistic, practical, scriptural, and God-glorifying theology.

Bad and unsound theology misrepresents God and leads people away from truly and healthily knowing God. A serious Christian seeks to be mature in his relationship and understanding of God, and to reach this goal, sound theology is the target to hit. Unfortunately, there are Christians and even pastors who put theology in a bad light. I heard a pastor once say, “Do not focus on theology; it’s not that important. Following Christ is.”

I was stunned by those words. Is it not that following Christ involves theology? The Bible says, unequivocally, “YES!”  Because following Jesus is basically knowing who He is and what He has done, before proclaiming it to others as an act of service and love for the Lord and Savior Jesus. Otherwise, our proclamation stands on opinion and biases. Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word…” (Jn.14:23). Christ-centered obedience is rooted in a love for God’s Word, which requires sound theology. It begins with rightly knowing God through His Word, resulting in sound theology and faithful living.

Sound theology helps us pursue holistic life in the Lord. It teaches God’s desire for our minds, hearts, and bodies, and how we relate to one another, reflecting His character and will.

Notice the holistic will of God for His people in Mark 12:30-331: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength… You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Through sound theology, it addresses the wholeness of a Christian man to conformity to Christ. Informing the mind, transforming the heart and soul, maximizing the strength of the body, for serving and loving others for the glory of God. Therefore, sound theology is a must.

Sound Theology Stands on the Scriptures

The Bible is the primary source for cultivating sound theology. From reading and exegesis of the text to interpretation, reflection, meditation, and application towards transformation. Without the Bible, there can be no sound theology, and without sound theology, there can be no faithful understanding of His revelation or application of God’s truth.

We could not get our sound theology from watching movies or reading from newspapers, or listening to CNN, Fox News, ANC, or GMA 24 Oras News.

We can relate many things around us to our Christian life and spiritual realities, but these things are nonetheless fallible sources without divine authority on par with or at the same level as the Scriptures. Any truth they contain must be tested and validated by God’s Word, the only objective standard for faith and life and by which we interpret all of life. By faithfully applying the timeless truths of Scripture to our present context, we practice sound theology that leads to faithful Christian living.

Current events and history continually affirm the truthfulness and reliability of Scripture. We can rightly understand the world we live in because God has already revealed His purposes and will in His written Word (Bible). After all, what He declared has come to pass, is still unfolding, and will be fulfilled exactly as He has promised, as is written in the Scriptures.

Bad theologies arise by abandoning the authority of the Bible in our lives. Unsound theology doesn’t always mean the person is outside of grace or not saved, but it affects how they live their life before God. Like those Christians who believe that they can lose their salvation. This unsound teaching gives them a burden and could lead their life into a works-based theology for salvation. It is harmful if you think about it carefully.

On the other hand, heretics and false teachers are on another scale. These people are intentionally twisting the Bible and keep rejecting the true teachings of God. They do not just have bad and unsound theology, but they have a wicked and anti-Christ theology. They concoct new teachings that suit their taste and selfish desires to gain power, material things, and fame for themselves. Therefore, they are false Christians who oppose the truth, outside of the grace of salvation, and a devil’s child (John 8:44).

To illustrate my point, one big bad theology that is still being practiced today is the “sinner’s prayer” in the context of evangelism. The evangelist will instruct a person to follow his prayer, and once he or she says the prayer verbally and sincerely, they will be assumed to be new Christians.

This is an unbiblical practice rooted in bad theology. No text in the Bible teaches this method, not the apostles and not even Jesus Christ. The problem with this theology is that it focuses on reciting the prayer and prayer itself as one’s cheat code or means for salvation. Despite the person’s sincerity, the truth is he remains sincerely wrong. Merely repeating a prayer doesn’t save someone. But it is only through humble repentance and faith in Jesus alone and by the grace of God alone (Psa.51; Lk.18:13-14; 23:42-43; Acts 3:19; Eph. 2:8-9).

Hence, sound theology is rooted in the teachings of the Scriptures.

Sound Theology is Centered on Christ Jesus

One of the clearest marks of sound theology, aside from rootedness in the Scriptures and historical realities, is the focus on the person and works of Jesus Christ prophesied in the Old Testament and clearly revealed and explained in the New Testament.

Sound theology aims to help us and the church rightly know who Jesus really is, what He has accomplished through His life, death, resurrection, and what He is accomplishing in us through the Holy Spirit and what He will complete at His second return.

All our doctrinal knowledge and practices are converging to one Person alone—Jesus Christ by which everything must be tested and validated. Hence, everything we do in our church and public life must be examined through the lens of Jesus’ life, works, examples, and teachings as revealed in Scripture.

Sound theology helps us check our life and ministry practices, answering questions like:

• Is the order of our church worship, music, and leadership principles and values biblical and Christ-honoring?
• Do we apply biblical qualifications for choosing pastors, elders, and deacons?
• Does the authority of the Bible remain central in our preaching just like Jesus did?
• How about in our handling of conflict and church disciplines in our churches? Do we faithfully apply Matthew 18:15-17 as instructed by Jesus?
• Do we reflect Christ’s examples and teaching in the way we present the gospel and shepherd the flock of God?
• Is our life being lived as a husband or wife, father or mother, employee or employer in the true understanding of the person and works of Jesus Christ?

These are just a few life and ministerial questions to help us apply sound theology in our service to Christ and His people. If we want our church to be strong and healthy, likewise our personal walk with God, then sound theology is non-negotiable for every believer and church leader.

In a generation where popular opinion, pragmatism, liberalism, and wokeness reign supreme, the body of Christ must remain committed and faithful to sound theology. Many churches could not even explain the biblical gospel or present the biblical Jesus as the hope and salvation for the lost.

The troubling reality is that many Christians, church leaders, and pastors accommodate seeker-sensitive philosophies, compromising the message to please people and promote themselves for self-glory at the expense of biblical truth and God’s glory. Abandoning sound theology is identical to abandoning our focus on the person and works of the Lord Christ Jesus.

Jesus loves His church; He bought it with His own blood (Acts 20:28), and He wants it to be healthy, pure, holy, and blameless (Eph. 5:26-27). And the way to present His church and each believer in a manner that is Christlike and glorifies God, both our practice and ministry philosophies, in private and in public, must be governed by sound theology (Col.1:28).

At the end of the day, it is not our opinion that matters, but the Word of Jesus, and that is how faithfully we understand Him through Scripture (Sound theology) and apply His commandments in daily life (faithful practice).

Thus, Sound theology is important because it both centers on and glorifies Jesus Christ.

Do You Aim for Sound Theology?

My prayer for us and for our churches is to grow our appetite in sound theology, cultivate it correctly, and apply it faithfully by the power of the Holy Spirit in us.

If you are a pastor like me, never think that theology is not important or that you already know everything about God. May we humbly admit the fact that our theologies with our finite minds will never fully grasp the fullness of God’s character and wisdom. He is beyond our league; God is infinite and incomprehensible.

No one among us, even the best and finest theologians in the past, whether Reformers or Puritans or modern faithful Bible scholars, Pastor-theologians, could ever touch the fringe of the glory of His being. What we know about God is but a tiny molecule compared to the infinite greatness of what we have yet to know about Him. He is infinitely vast, and our knowledge of God is exceedingly limited.

No matter how much we know about God through exegesis, reading books, articles, and essays, God remains immeasurable. So, stay humble and grateful, brethren.

At the same time, we are commanded and encouraged to seek God’s beauty, delight in Him, and know Him diligently, deeply, and personally through Jesus Christ, and by His final, authoritative, inerrant, infallible, and sufficient Word–the Bible (Psa.27:4; Jn.17:3; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).

So, brethren, do not be lazy! Work and study faithfully (Jn.17:17; 2 Tim. 2:15).

May He be glorified through our sound theology and life.