There are many churches near the seminary I attended, some of which are made up mostly of professors and students from the Christian university that the seminary is a part of. Once, I visited one of these churches with a friend. We sat through the entire service and stayed for lunch. During lunch, we noticed people engaged in deep theological discussions, and their passion for the Bible and theology was clear. However, to our surprise, throughout our time there, no one — absolutely no one — greeted us, the first-time visitors. After we left, my friend and I both agreed that the church felt rather cold. This is a church very different from my impression of what a church should be.
My earliest impression of what a church looks like came from the "home church" of my paternal grandparents. Due to their declining health, my grandparents were no longer able to attend Sunday services at their church, even from as early as I can remember. Yet, every Sunday evening, brothers and sisters from their church would visit and pray with them. Those home visits were church for my grandparents, and the church members continued to visit faithfully until my grandmother passed away and my grandfather moved in with us. After that, my parents began attending a church in our city of the same denomination as my grandparents’. When my grandfather passed away, the church community did everything they could to support us, and it was their love that ultimately led to my parents' conversion.
My parents' church denomination is, in fact, widely considered Bible-illiterate by many Evangelical Christians. Their approach to Sunday services and small groups is very different from the evangelical model. They don’t do exegetical sermons — well, they don’t do sermons, period. Instead, church members take turns to share what a given passage means to them personally, while most of them have no theological training. As you can imagine, their sharing can be quite chaotic and theologically inconsistent at times. Their small group Bible studies are run in the same way. And yet, when I went home to visit my parents, their church brothers and sisters insisted on taking me out to dinner. I was overwhelmed by their love and enthusiasm, despite barely knowing them personally.
This is a denomination that would gladly baptize a first-time visitor without requiring any baptism classes or tests — something unthinkable to many Evangelical churches. Theologically, it was doing so poorly that it was even considered a cult by the American Evangelical leaders in the 1970s. And yet, I’m puzzled: how can a church that is so theologically weak love so well? Why are so many people hurt by churches and pastors who are theologically sound? Does getting our theology right really matter that much in our Christian walk? Is there any value, then, in reading the Bible cover to cover repeatedly, or going through seminary to study biblical, systematic, and historical theology, and all that good stuff?
When I met with the brothers and sisters from my parents' church, I was flooded with their questions about the teachings in the Bible. Contrary to what many people assume about my parents' church denomination, I found that these brothers and sisters are faithful Bible readers who take its teachings seriously. They are just as enthusiastic about the Bible as Christians elsewhere. The difference lies in their closed theological framework. They are taught to follow only the exegesis and theological writings of their two founding pastors. As a result, throughout their lives, they are instructed to believe solely in how these two figures interpreted the Bible. When they encounter questions about what they've been taught, they lack other perspectives to deepen or enrich their biblical understanding.
From my observation though, churches of other denominations don’t seem that different from my parents’ denomination.
The American Bible Society recently released a “State of the Bible” study. Based on metrics that gauge Bible reading, its impact on decision-making and one’s relationship with God, the study shows that, while overall Bible engagement in the U.S. has been steadily declining, the rate among Evangelical Protestants remains at 46%. This rate is much higher than I expected, especially considering that only 18% of all Americans are considered Bible-engaged in 2024. This means that nearly half of Evangelicals still actively read the Bible. (A cautionary note for my fellow Asian Christians: Bible engagement and reading rates among Asian Christians have consistently been low, at around 16%.)
But then, this raises the question: When Evangelicals encounter questions about the Bible, where do they turn for answers?
Mostly, to the pastors of their churches.
And if the pastors of their churches remain their predominant source of information, this means that these Christians are also basing their theological framework on a closed system. They are not actively engaging with other perspectives or exploring Scripture for themselves. Isn’t this similar to my parents’ church denomination, where the teachings of the two founding pastors dominate the entire theological approach?
That said, I’d like to commend the 46% of Evangelicals who regularly engage with the Bible. That’s a great first step, especially for new believers — taking the initiative to engage with the Bible is key to owning your faith. However, it’s important to remember that the Bible wasn’t originally written to us in our cultural context or language. To deepen your understanding, it’s wise to consult a trustworthy source, such as the pastors at your church, as you begin your journey. As we grow in spiritual maturity, though, we should transition from spiritual milk to solid food. This means moving beyond simply relying on what we are taught to believe, but to studying the Bible for ourselves and examine what we are taught. When studying the Bible by applying proper literary contextualization tools and conducting biblical language word studies, a whole new world of understanding will open up to us.
Though years of theological contemplation and reflection have taken me further from the fundamentalist teachings of my seminary, I still deeply appreciate my professors for equipping me with the tools and skills to study and interpret the Bible on my own. Certainly, not everyone has the opportunity for seminary training. However, the key to a deeper biblical understanding is humility — recognizing how much we don’t know and resisting the urge to be self-contained in what we think we know. Humility is what drives us to ask questions and seek the tools necessary to dig deeper into Bible study.
The fear, though, among many Christians is the discernment part: How do I know if what I learn through my personal Bible study is good and trustworthy?
At the moment, I have come up with a few principles for discerning good theology:
1. Founded in Love: Good theology and biblical understanding must be founded on Jesus' greatest commandment: love God and love others. God is love. While we might get confused or uncertain about the ins and outs of the Trinity, the study of God (which is what "theology" means) can never depart from God’s central character. A theology without love is like ordering a bowl of beef noodle without the beef or a plate of Hainan chicken rice without the chicken. When we develop theology without love, we become legalistic, turning God into a mold that’s constantly measuring people.
2. Practicality: For the first principle to hold, our theology or biblical understanding must also be practical. I believe that the ultimate reason for learning the Bible for Christians is learning to be in a proper relationship with God and with one another. We can sit there having theological discussions all day, but if we fail to greet the newcomers to our church, making them feel recognized and welcomed — if our theology doesn’t make any positive impact in the world — our theology is good for nothing.
In one sermon, Pastor Danny Cortez, one of the kindest people I know, used the development of medicine as an analogy for the development of our theology. He said that the medicine we create in the lab must be tested in the field. And I agree. Years ago, when my 24/7 tinnitus first began, I went to see an acupuncturist who believed that tinnitus is caused by poor liver health. After several treatment sessions, I noticed a clear improvement in my gastrointestinal health, but my ears were still ringing. The acupuncturist had a solid theory about the cause of tinnitus, one that is widely accepted in Chinese medicine, but in practice, it didn’t address my condition. Similarly, if a medicine kills the patients, no matter how effective it is at treating the disease, it’s not a good medicine, either.
There are times we study God and the Bible solely for academic purposes. But we must remember that even our academic theology has real-world impacts. In our process of forming a theological opinion, think of the people it may impact, the people we may not see or may not know. Go see them, meet them, get to know them, and listen to them.
3. Humility Over Absolutism: I can’t emphasize the importance of humility to Christians enough.
Many Christians often confuse the meaning of “Biblical Inerrancy.” The doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy is affirmed by the Chicago Statement in 1978, which affirms the inerrancy of the original writings of the biblical authors (commonly referred to as the autographs), NOT the translations we read today (e.g., KJV, ESV, NIV, NASB, etc.), nor any Bible scholar’s interpretations or our pastor’s teachings. Over time, the ancient scribes made copies of the autographs, and then copies of those copies, and so on, which leaves room for potential human error. Bible translators could unintentionally or intentionally make imprecise translations. The Bible scholars, our pastors, and even you and I can be wrong in our understanding, whether due to our own biases or simply because we are all fallen human beings.
That’s why what we believe to be the Truth may not be the whole truth. We must always be humble and willing to listen, learn, and grow. I have the highest respect for Dr. Robert Saucy, my beloved professor and a Bible scholar. Even in his 80s, his biblical understanding continued to expand and grow. Though we differed on many theological views, when I expressed my opposition in my papers, he never penalized me for our theological differences. Instead, he appreciated my perspectives and commended me for presenting strong arguments. I rarely give my respect to anyone, but I held Dr. Saucy in the highest regard, mostly for his humility and open-mindedness, despite our sharp theological differences.
4. Judging by Its Fruit: Finally, we discern theology by its fruit. Does it produce love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Does it build people up, or does it destroy their faith?
I was deeply moved by a sermon from Pastor Dave Gibbons, in which he expressed remorse for how his theology had hurt women and LGBTQ+ people, pushing them away from the church. Despite his fundamentalist background and his status of being the founding pastor of this large congregation, he sobbed as he acknowledged the harm. His tears and willingness to make amendments showed me that he truly cared for even the marginalized minority, seeing them as people, not issues to be fixed. It’s easy to dismiss the suffering cries of the few, but it takes love and tremendous courage to stand up for them, even at great cost.
I, too, have my regrets. In my early seminary days, because of my lack of biblical understanding, I told a friend, who was considering divorce at the time, that divorce would displease God. Later, my friend dropped out of the faith, and I think I may have contributed to her frustration with Christianity. Looking back now, I wish I had stood by her as a friend, telling her that she deserves better and that she should get out of that unhealthy, painful, and abusive marriage. I shouldn’t have told her what I hadn’t truly studied, just because other Christians said so. I was being legalistic. I told her what I thought and believed was the truth, but not in love. I treated her divorce as an issue, and I failed to see the person who was in pain. I hope my friend can forgive me.
So, back to our central question: Does getting our theology right really matter that much in our Christian walk? Yes, it does. Even before I went to seminary, my daily private Bible study helped me avoid the lies of the prosperity gospel. My seminary training later enabled me to answer an important question that had troubled a sister from my parents' church for a long time — Are we really saved? I was able to reassure her of her salvation and help her step into the freedom that Jesus has already given us. Getting our theology right helps us understand God and His will more clearly, guiding us on the right path.
However, in the process of getting our theology right, we must remember that being right in our theological views isn’t about winning debates or proving others wrong. It's not about intellectual superiority. We need to put our theological views to the test: Do they bear fruit? What kind of fruit do they bear? Do they build people up? Are they loving? If any of our theological views don’t bear good fruit, they’re either non-essential or need to be amended. Be humble and be willing to stand corrected, always.
Pastor Danny Cortez recently posted a helpful reminder on his Facebook: “Beware of any Christian movement that acts as though the world is full of enemies to be destroyed rather than full of neighbors to be loved.” I’ll close with this reminder as a helpful guide for assessing the “rightness” of our theology.
Comments
Post a Comment