When We Try to Fit God Into Our Theology

I’ve long been uneasy with the tendency to read Scripture through a fixed lens. Everyone does it in some way, which makes awareness the key. Our lens may come from culture, theology, experience, or psychology. I’ve often said that if I understand someone’s psychology, I can usually predict their theology.

Those who prefer structure tend to see the Bible as firm and ordered. Those who are more comfortable with ambiguity read it with a wider range of interpretation. Both approaches reveal something about the person as much as they do about the text.

Systems and Scripture

In seminary more than forty years ago, I struggled with the tidy systems theologians built to explain the Bible. Frameworks, things like Calvinism, Arminianism, or any other, shape how people interpret every passage. They can help organize thought, but they also predetermine outcomes.

Over time, I’ve become convinced the Bible won’t fit neatly inside any human system. Some truths appear to live in tension with one another, and attempts to smooth them out often require favoring some passages while ignoring others.

That tension doesn’t threaten faith. It invites humility.

Living with the Mystery

Scripture speaks clearly of God’s sovereignty. It also affirms that people are responsible for their choices, as Paul wrote in Romans 2. Both are true.

I believe God orders our steps. I also believe that our decisions matter and that sin shapes what happens in the world. How do these realities coexist? I don’t know. Yet I trust God to hold them together.

The same goes for the nature of God’s love and justice. Or the question of suffering in a world He rules. I don’t have full explanations. I’m content to trust the mystery rather than manufacture certainty.

When Expectations Get in the Way

The disciples often misunderstood Jesus because He didn’t match their expectations of a Messiah. They anticipated a ruler who would restore national power. What they received was a servant who washed feet. Their assumptions blinded them to His true purpose.

That same impulse still shapes how many interpret God and the world. We bring our categories and preferences to the text, and in doing so, we miss the deeper reality of His presence.

God resists being confined to any tradition or movement. Reformed, Wesleyan, Anglican, Pentecostal, Catholic, Evangelical, each holds some truth, but none contain Him fully. J.B. Phillips captured this well when he titled his book "Your God Is Too Small."

Awe and Awareness

In the past year, I’ve visited sixteen churches. One theme stood out: a lack of awe. Many leaders spoke with confidence about their theology but little reverence for the mystery of God. They seemed certain that He resided in their particular corner of faith.

That tendency is familiar to all of us. We construct frameworks that make sense to us and then start to believe they define God Himself. Awareness of this pattern is the first step toward humility.

Next week, I’ll write about how even those without faith build similar frameworks to make sense of their world. For now, I’m reminded that true wisdom begins when we admit how little we can contain of the One who holds everything together.