“This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)
Theology can be defined simply as thinking about God. But theology is not a merely intellectual endeavor; theology is more deeply relational, spiritual, and is perhaps better defined as knowing God. We don’t just know information about God; we know God personally, as he truly is, as he has revealed himself. We don’t just think remote thoughts of God; we think toward him, prayerfully. In his prayer, Jesus defines eternal life in these terms. Eternal life is—essentially—relational knowledge of the Triune God. So, “doing theology” and enjoying eternal life really should be the same thing.
“Eternal life as theology” makes sense precisely because God is Triune. Eternity itself is characterized by the mutual, delighted knowledge of Father and Son in the Spirit. The very Being of God (which is the foundation for all reality!) is the blessed communion of Persons. We are made in God’s image, which means our humanity is meant for the same kind of spiritual knowing. This is the promise of salvation itself.
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:3-4)
Many people—including many Christians—think that it’s impossible truly to know God as he is in himself. But, again, it is of the essence of the Triune God to know and to be known. Before everything, in himself, he is the God of mutual knowing. In fact, the real wonder seems to be that we could possibly not know this God! We, who were made in God’s image for mutual knowing! Truly, the cosmos broke when we “knowers” refused to know the Known One. Nevertheless, God will be known, and in time he has truly made himself known for relationship through Jesus Christ.
“We know that the Son of God has come and given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true.” (1 John 5:20)
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him… Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” (John 14:6-10)
To be a Christian means to confess that we do believe that the Son (Jesus) is in the Father and the Father is in the Son. To be a Christian means to believe in the perichoretic union (mutual indwelling) of the Triune God who makes himself known to us in Christ. It means trusting that we actually can know the One who has made us and redeemed us for this very purpose. In fact, being a Christian means knowing this God with his own knowledge of himself, even as the Son knows the Father in his own Spirit and truth.
This is practical. Thinking that theology—one’s relationship with God—is not innately practical, that it must somehow be made practical, is itself bad theology. We are, of course, prone to do theology badly. (You do theology, whether you’ve thought explicitly about it much or not.) So we need to do theology Christianly. We need to get to know this God in Christ better, so that we can better live with reference to him at all times. We need to turn to God’s revelation prayerfully; theology is thinking toward God in the Spirit. We need to do theology corporately; theology is relational, and should be done in community with those who know God (the church). And we need to do theology doxologically; if your theology doesn’t often erupt into delighted praise, something’s off.
Does your “working definition” of Christianity include knowing God, and Jesus whom he sent? Do you conceive of theology as merely an academic, remote, abstract, perhaps even irrelevant exercise? What do you think about theology as proposed here, as the relational knowledge of God that is of the essence of eternal life, as being caught up into God’s relational knowledge of himself? How does this understanding of eternal life differ from other common understandings of eternal life? Why might it be important to embrace this understanding of theology? What difference does this understanding of theology make for church ministry or evangelism? Do you have any thoughts about doing theology prayerfully, corporately, or doxologically? Do you believe that God can be truly known by people? If so, how, to what degree, and why do you believe this? What does it matter that the God whose very Being is Persons in mutual knowledge is himself the Creator, the One who is behind all reality? How is this understanding of theology “practical,” Biblically speaking? What areas of theology are most interesting to you? What areas of theology are most difficult for you?
(Originally posted Nov. 16, 2015. Edited Aug. 31, 2021.)
