SHOULD WOMEN STUDY THEOLOGY?

I am going to be blunt and really share my heart here. I have encountered very few women in my own life who I would say “study theology” (apart from Facebook, which is sad). Further, even if women do have some biblically sound theology, I find a real lack of passion to have fellowship centered around it. My passion for theology has made me “feel” as an outcast at times, even among those I love most dearly. Before moving to Colorado Springs, my only thoughts were, “Will we be able to find a solid church?” I found several, and that would be good enough for some people. My thoughts, then, went to the best women’s group and women’s Bible studies. Where can I minister and be ministered to? I even called several churches right before Covid-19 hit asking about the depth of their Bible studies for women. They may have thought I was nuts, and some will read this post and say, “This woman is nuts!”

Just how deeply felt can this need for intimate fellowship with likeminded believers be? I tell this story in my book, and I hesitated to tell it on the blog…but it is relevant. (Maybe I have already told it. At my age, I can only apologize in advance.) My husband and I spent most of the 90’s searching for the perfect church. We all know that church does not exist. After being exposed to false teaching of all sorts in the 80’s, the Lord began revealing Himself to us through solid teaching. The deepest desire of our hearts was to find likeminded fellowship. Disillusioned after leaving church after church, we finally tried to do church as a family at home. This only ended in disaster and would eventually lead to an even greater revelation of how desperately believers need the church, not just a virtual church just for teaching but the actual living, breathing Body of Christ. When we gave up on the church, we all began slowly drifting back to the world.

In 2001, my brother-in-law was getting married and my daughter was asked to be in his wedding. While I was standing there in a small circle of people (close friends and family) amidst a much larger crowded room, a platter of champagne glasses was passed around. As everyone was lifting their glasses in a toast to the bride and groom, I was praying. Sounds holy, right? Here was my toast: “Lord, I quit! I don’t want to be a Christian any longer because I’m tired of not fitting in anywhere!” No lightening bolts came down from heaven. Nothing. Five days later, my daughter was dead. Those circumstances, in themselves, took a lot of theology to get me out of the pit I had dug for myself. The bottom line is that the lover of my soul would never let me go.

My point in sharing this story is that once the Lord has redeemed us, there is a deep longing of the soul for fellowship with hearts that also beat for Christ. It hurts when close family members shun you because they are tired of hearing about Jesus. Nevertheless, we should expect that in this world. What is even harder is finding that likeminded passion for Christ inside the church.  

Some will be offended at my words saying, “You study theology. I don’t need to.” In other words, “You do you, and I’ll do me.” In those words, I am not offended. My thoughts necessarily go to: Will you be able to stand on that excuse on Judgment Day? What about those haunting words of Jesus when He warned that there would be those who would say to Him, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’” (Matthew 7:21-23) Notice here that people may be walking around calling Jesus Lord who believe they are doing the will of the Father. Jesus’ response then and on that day? I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness. How is it possible that Jesus does not know His own? While He knows everything about His creation, He is saying that He did not have an intimate love relationship with these.

Yesterday, I began looking at 2 Timothy 3. We saw that in difficult last days the world would be filled with evil religious leaders whose characteristics mimic those of the people they lead. In Mark 7:21-22, Jesus says: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” Evil leaders cater their teaching to people who love the darkness rather than the light.

What do people who love darkness look like in this world? Romans 13:12-14—The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. Galatians 5:19-21 adds: Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. And 1 Peter 4:1-5—Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; but they will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Behaving properly is not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. It is not acting in immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. Pagans pursue a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. Scripture is clear, yet people will hear this and still believe somehow it is not speaking to them because they love Jesus. How do they know they love Jesus while living in deeds of darkness? They just feel love for Him. But the Jesus they love is not real. As their own gods, they have created a Jesus they can worship. Remember that these deeds characterize a person’s life who does not know Christ. Christians can sin in any one of these categories, but they do not live there. It is not characteristic of their lives.

Light and darkness do not mix. 1 John says that if we say that we have fellowship with Him (those who call Him, Lord, Lord) and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says: Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

In the last days difficult times will come. 2 Timothy 3:13 says that evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. According to verse 6, among these evil men are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Nobody wants to be deceived. So how does one keep from being deceived? In the Greek, they enter in means that they creep in. They are subtle and crafty slithering in through whatever open crevice they can find. They do not come in with horns and a pitchfork announcing Satan’s agenda. That would be too obvious and would not accomplish deception. They hide themselves in cheap imitations of righteous robes. Enter means to creep into, to put on, to envelop in, to hide in, to clothe with a garment. They come in a way that gets women to say, “They used Scripture, so it must be true.” “I really like this person. He or she really gets me. I feel as though he or she is speaking truth.” Today, we can say evil women creep in as well. Evil religious imposters captivate weak women. Captivate means to lead away captive, to bring into captivity, to capture one’s mind. What type of women are they able to captivate? Weak women. This literally means silly little women, women who are foolish or idle. They are weighed down with sins. John MacArthur says of this verse: Weak in virtue and the knowledge of the truth, and weighed down with emotional and spiritual guilt over their sins, these women were easy prey for the deceitful false teachers.

In the next few days, I want to look more at these questions: What is theology? How important is theology? Should women study theology? To what end should women study theology? What are the dangers of not studying theology?