A few days ago, I had the opportunity to attend Zane Hodges funeral, which was a little strange considering that I did not know him. But I have been so impressed with the indelible impression that he made on so many, including people that I do know who have known him, that at the least I wanted to glean from the final farewells a legacy that I most certainly would have appreciated and desired to know personally. I guess this was the next best thing to being there, benefitting from the words of wisdom that he seemed to share with so many.

To be sure, there were many remarks given from people who had known this beloved man and whose comments were replete with praise of a life well lived. One comment in particular really stuck with me. One of the speakers indicated that Zane Hodges had helped him to know Christ better. I continued to reflect on this as I ducked out right before the eulogy as work responsibilities beckoned. I kept thinking of this throughout the day. It was clear to me that Mr. Hodges was a consummate exegete of the Scripture and took to challenge theological positions that contradicted the grace by which believers in Christ are reconciled to God. I heard that he was a passionate teacher of the greek language. But what I heard most of all was a man who desired for others to know Christ better.

As I contemplated these things, it struck me that this is indeed the ultimate task of theology, to know Christ better. Yes, engaging in the study of God is faith seeking understanding that will of course lead to exhaustive investigations of historical developments, hermeneutics, and doctrinal positioning. I think it is indeed serious business to understand God on His terms and I am personally committed to a lifelong in-depth learning of His character and attributes, His ultimate revelation in Christ and the reconciliation of His creation. History has indeed demonstrated that many have sought to misrepresent or distort this revelation and the salvific process defined for us in Scripture. Deviations do need to be addressed. But we can get so enmeshed in the process of debate that we begin to leave Christ out. I confess that in my pursuits to defend truths as I have understood them, I have been guilty of such. But then I recognize that at these times our wrangling over doctrinal truths can amount to an intellectual match with pretty arguments but no real basis for meaningful Christian dialogue.

Christ is the centrality of the faith and if our dialogue doesn’t have a heartfelt knowledge of Christ as the ultimate goal, the game is meaningless. I think Paul was getting to this ultimate task in his commendation to the church at Colossae regarding the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ,

We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ (Col 1:28)

All the words, debates, arguments should point to Him, should help people to know Him and to know Him better. Perhaps if we find that our theological investigations and debates become more about winning arguments then pointing to Christ and presenting men complete in Him, then maybe those investigations should be superseded by silent moments of introspection.

I did not know Zane Hodges, but it did seem from the myriad comments that I have heard about him, that this was something he understood well. The comments suggested that he was a man who pointed people to Christ and His corresponding grace. And for this seminary student engaged in the process of doing theology, I feel somewhat robbed for not having made his acquaintance but refreshed at the legacy that he left that seemed to help so many to know Christ and to know Him better.

The next time we are engaged in a theological debate, let’s think about what we are really arguing about.

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