Dangers In Studying Theology
DANGERS IN STUDYING THEOLOGY
Though the study of theology is a good and a profitable undertaking, there are some inherent dangers that must be faced in this endeavor. The Danger of Division: Theology divides. This should not surprise us. Jesus said it would divide. He said that He came to cause division. There are times when our theology will necessarily divide us from others. At the same time, there are areas of theology that should not necessarily become divisive to the point of bringing contention to the church. In major things we have unity. In minor things we have liberty. In all things we have love. The Danger of Pride: Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 8:1 that knowledge makes arrogant. It is one of the inherent dangers of knowledge. It is not long before we begin to become proud of the knowledge we have and we begin to look down on others. The Danger of Dependence on Knowledge: This is the danger where we are tempted to substitute relationship for theology. It is true that knowledge of God is necessary for relationship with God to take place, but knowledge alone does not equate to that relationship.
You can learn about God's sovereignty and know all of the facts of His omnipotence and power, yet it is not until you are under the fire of suffering that you turn to that attribute and apply it to your particular situation that you really come to depend upon the Lord. The Danger of Accepting Man's False Teachings. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Peter 2:1-3).
There are false words and false teachings presented in the world today. These are brought by false teachers and some of those false teachers are to be found within the church. This means we must not blindly follow every teaching we hear. As we noted earlier, we are called to be Berans in our searching out the Scriptures. We are to test and try the spirits to see if they really are from God (1 John 4:1).