Theology does not teach us that we know more, but that we know less. The more we know about God, the more we know how little we know. Martin Luther taught that the ultimate theological question is not about what we think about God, but what God thinks about us. Those who are with the Lord know far more about God—and what He thinks about us—than the greatest of all theologians because, for them, theology is no longer a belief or study, but sight.
God wants us to be humble, He delights in humility. Humility is the purpose of all theological study. It is the moral of the story, the lesson of every lesson on who God is. Just as the lesson from every scientific discovery is that science has not discovered everything, so does every lesson about God’s nature and His thoughts toward us—every single on—teach us how little we can ever know in this lifetime.
Those who become arrogant and overconfident after studying the Bible—who try to compare their own level of knowledge to the knowledge of others—have missed the whole point, proving that they may not have learned anything at all. If one truly believes that God is all powerful, then one won’t lord one’s position over others. If one truly believes that God is all knowing, then one won’t get a big head by learning so. Remembering the information while arriving at the wrong attitude indicates that the student wasn’t paying attention to any of the information, that the student’s understanding of the information is entirely tainted.
God’s love for us is immeasurably vast. Paul prayed for a supernatural experience for the Christians at Ephesus, just so they could understand God’s love. His love is that vast—we can’t understand it with any amount of research and diligence.
When we encounter real, unfathomable truth about God, that truth changes our hearts to a point where houses and careers and financial statements don’t matter to us anymore. God’s love drives us to continue to manage those things as responsible stewards and to love our neighbors, but only because we are humbled by His love for us.
Psalm 147:10-11, Proverbs 3:34, Ephesians 1:17-19, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5-6