Doctrine/Theology

John’s gospel is constructed around a series of signs – seven in particular – that he masterfully employs to prove that Jesus is the Eternal Word who was from the beginning with God and was God, who was now made flesh and dwelt among us. The entire flow of John’s gospel is focused on a series of narratives exhorting the reader to come to a firm conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. This exhortation to believe is, subsequently, accompanied by a promise: all who come to believe in earnest that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, by believing, receive eternal life in His name. Accordingly, it would help to remember as well these words from chapter 1 where we are introduced to the major themes that John unfolds over the next 20 chapters. In 1:11-13 we read:

He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

From these words we could distill this core idea: all who believed in His name were born of God, that is, they received eternal life in His name “as a result of” their faith. But there is another idea here that is equally fundamental to John’s purpose, to Christian theology, and to our practical understanding even today. All who believed in His name were born of God, but that is a passive reality: “they were born.” The Author of our spiritual birth is not us but Christ – the One who gives us the right to become a child of God. This much then is elementary to our Christian understanding: there is but one way to eternal life: faith in Christ the Son of God. 

But our understanding of eternal life must include the fact that such life is granted by the Son of God. It is not something we achieve; it is something we receive. It is not something we work for; it is something already accomplished for us. Jesus alone is the one who gives eternal life. As He said in John 5:21: “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will.”

About 12 years ago I engaged in some lengthy dialogue with a fellow graduate student who had abandoned his Christian faith upon reading Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion. Below is one of the emails I sent to “Oleg” (not his real name).

Dear “Oleg”

Please allow me to begin by first expressing my profoundest sorrow over the terrible experiences you have been through. I cannot possibly understand the hurt and anguish these things have caused you. I can only say how sorry I am that this has happened to you and that I hope that in spite of it all, you are able to clearly distinguish between the wickedness of the persons that took advantage of you and the goodness of the God they so poorly represented in your case. My heart truly ached within me when I read your email. I know these words of mine may not mean that much, and certainly they can’t erase your personal history or the present feelings that history may yet arouse within you, but please know that I truly and deeply hurt for you because of this. 

I also want to apologize for taking so long to send a response to your last two emails. Despite the passage of so much time, I still, regrettably, have no elaborate treatise to offer you in defense of my position. I have no knock-down argument to give to you. And truthfully, my suspicion is that given the rather lofty standard of evidence you have raised for justifiable belief in God (namely, a theophany), there is not much I can say that you will likely find especially compelling. Nevertheless, I will try. 

The word “theology” comes from the Greek words for “God” (theos) and “knowledge” (logos). Theology, therefore, is simply the study of the nature of God. Unfortunately, there is a trend in many Christian churches to ignore or even denounce theology. Such churches, even though frequently they are well meaning, erroneously fear that doctrinal studies will further divide the body of Christ. Thus, they tend to emphasize feeling over truth, and experience over teaching. While feelings and experience are certainly a part of the Christian life, without truth and doctrine we cannot even be sure what constitutes the essence of the Christian faith. In other words, we cannot call our faith Christian if we do not even know what “Christian” is. Many “feelings” churches often place a strong emphasis on worship, and rightly so. But how can worship be truly spiritual if it is not worship of the true God? (John 4:24) And how can we be certain that we are worshiping the true God unless we are committed to the knowledge of the true God? In sum, doctrine is essential to the Christian life. And no doctrine of the faith is of greater importance than the doctrine of the nature of God. As the late A. W. Tozer observed: “What enters our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”^[1]

Briefly, there are at least six reasons why we should study the nature of God.^[2] First, all basic theological truth depends upon God’s attributes. The biblical command to love our neighbor is rooted in the nature of God, who is love (1 John 4:8). Our understanding of the nature of Jesus Christ, the God-man, is only as deep as our understanding of the nature of God.

Second, we cannot recognize false gods if we do not know the true God. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians: “But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.” (Gal. 4:8) The Apostle John warned his readers to “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)

Which leads to the third reason: Unless we know the truth about God, we leave ourselves vulnerable to dangerous deceptions that lead to bondage and apostasy. Ideas have consequences. Bad ideas have bad consequences. And since no idea is bigger than the idea of God, it stands to reason that bad ideas about God lead to the worst kinds of consequences.

Fourth, our spiritual growth is dependent upon our concept of God. We cannot become more like God unless we know what God is like!

Fifth, as Saint Augustine famously wrote,“Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it rest in Thee.”^[3] God created us for Himself. (Rom. 11:36; Rev. 4:11). Thus, apart from living for the true God, we will never find ultimate satisfaction in our lives.

Sixth and finally, Jesus commanded us to love God with all our minds. (Matt. 22:37) It is an act of obedience to conform our thinking about God to the true nature of God. Even though exhaustive knowledge of God is impossible for us, an accurate apprehension of what He has revealed is within our grasp. And to that we should strive, that we may walk in truth so that God may be lifted up and glorified among His people.  

^[1] A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: Walker and Co., 1996), 1,

^[2] For an overview of the first five of these six reasons, see Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology, vol. 2 (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2003), 17-19.

^[3] Paul M. Bechtel, ed., The Confessions of St. Augustine: Books One to Ten (Chicago: Moody Press, 1981), 17.