What Is Theology?

WHAT IS THEOLOGY?
The term “theology” is a compound made up from the joining of two words from the Greek language:

QeoV (Theos): This is the Greek word for “God.”

LogoV (Logos): “Word” or “study.”

Theology then is the study of God and those things that God has revealed. We also ought to understand what theology is NOT.

Theology is not about man's religious experiences which God or his opinion of what God ought to be like.

Many people like to speak about God being “real to them.” This often indicates a false sense of reality in which God is real to one person but non-existent to another.

Theology is the study of God's revelation of Himself to man. This definition presupposes that God has revealed Himself to man. Were it not for the fact that God had revealed Himself, we would know nothing at all about God. Can you discover the depths of God?
Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?
They are high as the heavens, what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? (Job 11:7-8).

There is a “knowledge gap” between God and man. Man cannot, by his own self effort, know anything about God. It is God Himself who must bridge the gap if we are to know of Him. The good news is that God has done this, revealing Himself to man.

Today's postmodern movement tends to shy away from the study of theology. It is claimed, “I don't need theology, just give me Jesus!” But the question then arises, “Which Jesus?” It is in the subject of theology that we learn of who Jesus really is.

Those who say they love the God of the universe without knowing facts about Him are in error. You can know facts about God without knowing Him and loving Him, but it is impossible to know Him and love Him without also knowing certain facts about Him. It is like saying that you know and love your wife when you know absolutely nothing about her. At the same time, it might be argued that it is possible to know all about God without actually knowing Him. This is true and it is one of the dangers of the study of theology. We must answer that knowing God involves more than the mere knowledge of certain basic facts about God, but also that it is not less than at least a fundamental awareness of who God is.