God’s Revelation and Theology: Thinking his thoughts after him

We discover God! We don’t invent God. No one can discover God, unless he discloses himself. He disclosed himself to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, who himself is the revelation of God. The call of every christian is then to know who God is by paying attention to what He told us about himself. Deeply thinking about God and the Son of God who came to reveal the glory and the identity of our God, as he redeem us through His cross, is the call of every mature believer (1 Cor. 2:6-16). Thinking his thoughts after him and letting his thoughts (his revelation) permeate and transform every aspect of our lives is what Jesus and his apostles were all about: be it personal, family life, career, etc.

Remember, whatever we speak and know of Him is because he revealed that to us through scripture. We knew that He is Lord, Messiah, Savior, Father, Creator, Redeemer…etc because he’s told us so. The Son of God came and manifested the glory of the one, transcendent and true God.

Thus theology is a careful reflecting BACK of the God who disclosed himself to us through His Son and Spirit via the medium of scripture. Failing to do that makes our worship and the things we speak of this great God and Savior, shallow to say the least. The unintended consequence, of course, is that so much shallowness domesticates God. God is majestic and the things we speak of Him must be majestic. The only way mortal beings could speak majestically about God is by being faithful to repeat those words this majestic God has told us about himself. Apart from this faithfulness to repeat God’s own revelation after him- using his own preferred way of speaking about him, the lofty words that we can muster would not be sufficient. It could impress people. But it will not reveal God.

I am hungry to see a generation who are careful to re-reveal, and re-reveal and re-reveal the God who revealed Him self in Christ. I am eager to see song writers who work hard at understanding His revelation, who then sing them back and sketch God before our eyes through their music. I am eager to see mobilized Evangelist and preachers who are as careful and thoughtful in their preaching, to utter nothing but every word pregnant with His revelation in Christ. I am eager to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Co 4:4)

“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord…. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (2 Co 4:4-6, 7)

I am eager to see Christians relating with one anther and the world to make known His revelation through their words and deeds. These I lack. These I want. These I pray, Oh Holy Father, for myself and my generation.

Here is Vanhoozer helping us understand the relationship between Theology and the integrity of the Gospel (the title is not mine and not intentional)

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