Theology Applied

I am amazed at the number of Christians who operate in the realm of theory. Even the pros (pastors and seminary professors). In fact I have a friend who says that when he was in college, he had a sociology professor who always lectured about "what the studies show." My friend says he frequently had knowledge that proved "what the studies show" hadn't worked out in practice. He used to have discussions with that professor about it, but they finally had to agree to disagree.

I'm finding that this is a serious problem among Christians. Many are totally unaware of how their theology works out in practice. Many of these same people are trying to evangelize others or turn them from theological error.

I can assure you that the unsaved, and people caught up in theological errors, are not interested in theories. They want and need to see how Truth works. Theoretical types among the unsaved and otherwise errant can argue circles around our Christian theories. My Japanese "atheist" friend Yuki is a case in point. But they can't argue when they see how Truth actually works out in real life.

It's almost comical to hear people argue (or read their arguments) that Christians will always be in bondage to sin, as in Romans 7. (That's the concurrent theory, for you theoretical types). But you can read in Romans 5, 6, and 8 that if you are in Christ, you are freed from sin. Can people be in bondage to sin and freed from at the same time? No, they cannot.

Or imputation vs. impartation (of God's righteousness) when we become Christians. In modern translations "imputed" is often translated "credited." If someone credited money to my bank account, have they not by that very fact imparted the money to me? If not, the concept of credit is meaningless, and even ridiculous.

It's the same with God's righteousness. It's still God's righteousness, which I fully acknowledge is given through no merit of my own. Nevertheless, when God credits it to my account, it becomes "mine" to draw on throughout my life, though it is given as a gift. Surely a person can know in actual practice whether he or she has been given a gift or not.

When someone gives you a gift, it is yours just as much as if you earned it. If you are a Christian, you have received something from God! You don't have to assume.

Romans 5:18-19 says that just as through one man's disobedience, many were MADE sinners, so through one Man's obedience (through His death on the cross)many will be MADE righteous. No Christian can seriously challenge the fact that many were MADE sinners. The Bible says so, and we can see abundant evidence all around us. But the Bible also says that many will be MADE righteous through Jesus' obedience. The way this is written, if you believe that through one man's disobedience many are MADE sinners, then you have to believe that through Jesus' obedience, many will be MADE righteous (with a righteousness not their own, of course). But many will argue with this.

Is the evidence not obvious that many lives have been changed by the righteousness of Jesus? Undoubtedly many lives have been transformed. But we become uncomfortable with this, because often the changes are not in line with society's norms, or they are not in line with our theories. And they don't have to be! The Gospel has always been counter cultural.

But it is dangerous to assume our theories are correct when things happen in unexpected ways, and to try to squeeze God and people into our mold. The Pharisees did this. God's ways are not our ways. It would be well to take this to heart, and step out of the theologically theoretical, and learn how God's ways actually work out in real life.