Theology is missing from being a disciple

Jen Wilkin

When we hear Jesus’s command in Matthew 28 to go and make disciples, we tend to think of it in terms of evangelism. We picture Jesus’s disciples fanning out across the known world, armed with gospel tracts. We picture joyful conversions followed by joyful baptisms. And then we picture those evangelists moving on to the next town, carrying the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea to the ends of the earth.

But if our understanding of the Great Commission is primarily a call to evangelism, we’ve forgotten a key piece: theology. Jesus’s final command isn’t a call to make converts but a call to make disciples. And as the Great Commission states, that call will require us to teach converts to “observe all that [Jesus has] commanded” (Matt. 28:20). When we think about discipleship, we must see the importance of passing along the good deposit of doctrine that was passed along to us.

What Are We Doing with Our Doctrine?

Conversion happens in an instant. Discipleship in the way of living out our doctrine, on the other hand, is the work of a lifetime. It involves the transmission of an ancient faith from one generation to the next. So how are we doing with that?

If our understanding of the Great Commission is primarily a call to evangelism, we’ve forgotten a key piece: theology.

According to most indicators, not great. In 2022, Lifeway Research and Ligonier Ministries partnered to release a report on the “State of Theology.” They surveyed both Christians and non-Christians on their understanding of basic Christian doctrine, the essential beliefs that define who a Christian is. The results among non-Christians were predictably dismal, but the results among professing Christians were alarming.

• 48 percent of evangelicals agree that “God learns and adapts to different circumstances.”
• 65 percent of evangelicals agree that “Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God.”
• 56 percent of evangelicals agree that “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.”
• 43 percent of evangelicals agree that “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.”

Let that sink in. Professing Christians in staggering numbers don’t understand or ascribe to many basic beliefs of the faith they claim to stake their lives on. They lack basic theological understanding. And the trends show the knowledge gap isn’t getting better but worse. One generation has failed to tell the next. We’ve made converts but not disciples.

How Did We Get Here?

If a disciple is a learner, a disciple maker is a teacher. But we cannot teach what we’ve never been taught. We cannot transmit to another generation what hasn’t been transmitted to us. We won’t aspire to teach anyone the basic beliefs of our faith if we don’t first consider ourselves to be theologians. So why don’t we? Why do many avoid taking up the task of learning doctrine? It could be because we’ve believed one of the following lies.

Lie #1: Theology is for academics.

Sometimes theology can be overly academic, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be accessible. Because academics do theology at a level some of us never will doesn’t mean all of us should avoid doing theology altogether. Most of us will never get a PhD in applied mathematics, but we still benefit from learning math beyond a rudimentary level, because it helps us live our everyday lives well. The same should be true with theology. Doctrine should be accessible to everyone: to kids, to parents, to young professionals, to people with PhDs or those with GEDs.

Lie #2: Theology is impractical.

Everyone—Christians and non-Christians alike—wants to live a life that makes sense. We want to give our lives to what matters most. Just look at how impassioned people are about the causes they support, their political convictions, and even their favorite sports teams. We all want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.

If theology is simply words about God, and God is the most important being—the ultimate Reality—is there anything that matters more? And is there anything more practical? If theology is understanding who God is and orienting our lives to him, is there anything more important? No, there’s nothing more practical than a life well lived, and theology is God’s ordained means to that end.

Lie #3: Theology is heartless.

Some think theology emphasizes thinking, not feeling. This is true in part. But it’s more accurate to say theology begins with the mind and moves to the heart. Doing theology is the work of mind renewal for the purpose of heart transformation (Rom. 12:2). Christianity isn’t a religion of the mind only—some cold, dead, and dusty intellectual exercise. But neither is it a religion of the heart only—all emotion and fervor, and no reasoned belief.

A more biblical theology doesn’t worship the life of the mind but rather acknowledges that “the heart cannot love what the mind does not know.” Theology fails if it’s an intellectual exercise only. Theology functions properly if an enlivened intellect fuels an enlivened heart. It recognizes the beauty of reason in the life of faith and it gives to reason a vocabulary and a vision. Thinking deeply about God should always result in feeling deeply about God. Theology that doesn’t lead to doxology (worship) isn’t theology at all but a vain pursuit of knowledge.

Lived Theology: The Key for Discipleship

So is theology academic? It can be. But it’s meant to be accessible to all disciples. Is theology impractical? Far from it. Knowing and loving God well is the most practical thing in the world. Does theology lack feeling? Not at all. True theology always leads to loving and worshipping God.

Theology matters because it shapes us not merely at the intellectual level but at the emotional and the practical level. It has a holistic effect on our lives: we think differently, feel differently, and act differently as a result of developing better categories for understanding God.

What is theology? Words about God.

Theology matters because it shapes us not merely at the intellectual level but at the emotional and the practical level.

Who does theology? Everybody.

We’re doing theology when we preach, pray, and sing, but we’re also doing theology when we go to work, take a vacation, care for an aging parent, fight sin, raise kids, mourn the loss of a loved one, spend our money, and grow old.

Why does theology matter? 

Because living well matters, and that’s the heart of discipleship.