“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” [I Corinthians 13:12]
I first craved to be a man after God’s own heart at 5. I was debating theologians at a private Christian school by 16. At 19 three ordained ministers told me I knew and understood the Bible better than they.
The longer I live, the less I am interested in theology. It is fallen human reasoning, yet each one purports to be pure and true doctrine.
Theee is no Unified Field Theory; Einstein sought for it in vain. There is no perfect theology; Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Erasmus, Arminius, Simons, Zwingli, Wesley, Molinos, et al, all asserted it in vain: Each said true things, and false things. Yes, some were closer to the truth more frequently than others.
There is the Word of God, and the Living Word, Jesus Christ. The rest are the intellectual perambulations of finite, fallen human beings. Are they without merit? No. I am a thinker, I do not disdain meditation. I denounce the arrogance of assuming that any one of them perfectly demarcated the entire meaning of the Living Word.
Theology inherently strives to reduce the infinite to finite terms - hence paradox.
Those paradoxes are made whole in the Person of Christ.
“Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?” [I Corinthians 1: 12, 13]
“Theee...” = There...