Why the Bride of Christ Loves Theology

This week my husband and I will be celebrating our 16^th wedding anniversary. So, like everyone does around their anniversary, I have been thinking back to the people we were when we said, “I do.” I was a mere 21 years of age, fresh out of college. It’s funny because I thought I was so “in love”—enough so that I decided to commit the rest of my life to loving this one man who I thought I really knew well. As much as I knew Matt on that perfect June evening, there was so much more to learn about him. Over the last 16 years of our experiences together in marriage, I have discovered much more about my husband as a provider, a father, a friend, and a lover. When I made those vows, “In sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer,” I was committing my life to what I believed to be true about the man I was marrying.My knowledge was based on the year and a half we had been in a relationship. Now that I have a daughter turning 14 soon, I am realizing that I was only 7 years older than her when I made these character assessments about her father. I am so thankful that Matt well exceeds what I knew to be true about him 16 years ago. I love learning about my husband, in good times and in bad. A huge part of a relationship is learning about one another, knowing the other intimately. And I think that is a deep longing that we all have, to really be known. As wonderful as the man I married is, sometimes I do find myself lonely because he can never really know me the way I long to be known. But I know that there is a reason for this. That is reserved for another husband. Our marriage hasn’t been consummated yet, but along with all those he has called, justified, and is sanctifying to glorification, I am the bride of Christ. He is the only one who knows me the way I long to be known. And as his bride, the church is not satisfied to stop learning about her bridegroom on the day she is betrothed. It is only the beginning. We long to learn more about this One that we are in covenant with for eternity. It is an expression of our love. It is our pleasure. Through sickness and health, poverty and abundance, we find a faithful groom. He actually teaches us about love as we learn more about him. And the more we discover about him, our love grows. Theology is the study of God. It is knowing who God is and what he has done. God knows it is very important for us to learn about him. So he has given us his written Word. It’s a pretty hefty book! He has also appointed preachers and raised up teachers to deliver his Word and help us study it deeper. Every Resurrection Day his church gathers for a covenant renewal ceremony where the future of our worship in glory breaks into this present age. We are blessed and renewed by his Word and sacraments. His Word actually has the power to create what it proclaims. Our bridegroom is lovingly transforming us into the perfect bride. And in his incarnation, obedient life, death, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father, he has done everything on behalf of his bride for this to be so. The bride of Christ loves theology because she loves God. We love God because he first loved us. How could we not want to learn more about so great a lover?