What is good theology? 3 things that it does

Dr Stephen Fogarty is the President of Alphacrucis University College, the national training college of the Australian Christian Churches, a position he has held since 1999. He provides leadership to the academic and administrative staff and students, while representing the college to its various constituencies. Before his presidency at Alphacrucis, he pioneered three churches and […] The post What is good theology? 3 things that it does appeared first on Salt&Light.

Religion Dec 5, 2025 0 0 Add to Reading List

What is good theology? 3 things that it does

Dr Stephen Fogarty is the President of Alphacrucis University College, the national training college of the Australian Christian Churches, a position he has held since 1999. He provides leadership to the academic and administrative staff and students, while representing the college to its various constituencies. Before his presidency at Alphacrucis, he pioneered three churches and has extensive experience in pastoral ministry.

Dr Fogarty shared the following devotion at the recent Asia Pentecostal Summit (Oct 29-Nov 2) at City Harvest Church, encouraging theologians to remember that good theology must always point back to Jesus Christ.

Salt&Light excerpts his sharing, with permission.

When I hear good news. I’m energised, I’m inspired. I find optimism, I find courage. I’m able to do something as an organisational leader, I know that my job is to make sure that my people hear good news so they’re up.

Who wants a down organisation? Who wants a down church? Not me. I want one full of optimism and enthusiasm and energy and faith and vibrancy. I want there to be hope in the congregation, because I know when there’s hope there, then there will be commitment, there will be performance. We will make a difference in our city, wherever we are.

Barth realised all they wanted to know was that God loved them.

There’s a great story about Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth. When he first left university, having imbibed the wonderful heady influence of High German liberal theology, he went to a small town called Safenwil in Switzerland and preaching his high, lofty ideals. The congregation looked at him with dumb faces, week after week, thinking “What is this man talking about?” After a while, Barth realised all they wanted to know was that God loved them. All they wanted to know was that there was hope for next week. All they wanted to know was that, if they prayed, God would hear their prayers.

When Barth was asked to encapsulate his theology, he said: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” It’s fabulous and it’s simple.

This faith we have in Jesus Christ is simple. God has revealed Himself in Christ, and we’ve come to encounter him, and our lives are changed, and we go out there to proclaim that message to everybody else. It’s a simple thing that we’re doing.

There are three things good theology does:

1. Good theology gives us good news

Rev 12:11, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb”

A good theology points us to Christ.

I believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe whatever happens in my life, God is in charge, and He will bring His purposes to pass. My job is not to be a superhero; my job is to proclaim Jesus Christ, to proclaim Him crucified in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the end, good theology points us to God’s revelation in Jesus Christ: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We don’t have any other message, it’s all we’ve got to say.

Our message is of God’s costly victory over sin. Our message is that humanity, no matter how much it aspires or tries or reinvents itself or becomes sophisticated, is dead in trespasses and sins.

That’s our message, that’s what we stand for. Behind all of our sophistication and all of the ways we seek to connect the Gospel to the many intricacies of human experience, fundamental to all that, we preach Christ.

A good theology points us to Christ.

2. Good theology inspires us to confident proclamation

Rev 12:11, “and by the word of their testimony”

The Gospel must be proclaimed. The victory of the cross must be proclaimed. The Gospel is for all people.

Wesley was converted reading Luther’s testimony, and Luther was converted by reading Paul.

John Wesley went to America to convert the Indians and came back saying, “But who will convert me?” Sitting in a room in a meeting in Aldersgate Street in London, as someone read from Luther’s preface to the book of Romans, Wesley felt his heart “strangely warmed”, and believed and felt that his sins were forgiven. It’s a powerful story because we are impacted by John Wesley and his ministry to this very day.

Wesley was converted by reading about Luther’s experience of faith in Jesus Christ. Luther was battling an infection, feeling anxious, thinking “How can I be right with God?” and meditating on Romans 1:16-17. He found out that faith and belief in Jesus Christ could deliver him from this condition which had afflicted him up to that moment in his life. It was an a-ha moment. Luther said that he felt entirely born again as he had that revelation of God’s righteousness applied to him through Christ, as he believed in Jesus Christ. Luther was converted by reading Paul who wrote the letter to the Romans.

Paul encountered Christ and was knocked off his high horse (Acts 9:3). He was knocked off of all his pride, all his achievements and all his aspirations and came to faith in Jesus Christ. Paul, in that famous first chapter of the Romans, says he is obligated and eager to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He’s not ashamed of the Gospel because it’s the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.

The Gospel is for all people. All who believe are appointed to pass the word along. Wesley was converted reading Luther’s testimony, and Luther was converted by reading Paul.

3. Good theology inspires us to courageous faith

Rev 12:11, “and they did not love their lives to the death.”

Good theology inspires us to believe that the Gospel is efficacious for every person in every context at every time in human history.

We should feel confident that the Gospel is for everything. It is the answer for the human condition. The Gospel is our gift to the world – let’s proclaim it confidently.

And if you’re going to proclaim the gospel, proclaim it in word and in deed. What did St Francis say? “Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” Let your life demonstrate the reality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To testify, we need a certain quality of life.

I committed my life to Christ on May 15, 1977. My first Pastor preached that you need to believe in Jesus because He’s coming back before next Sunday. I believed it, and I committed my life to Christ.

I thank God that I committed my life to Christ in a church full of very zealous believers. The man who handled discipleship was like a sergeant major, and he got us into shape really quickly. We had no time to backslide. Every Friday and Saturday night, we were out on the streets every night for four, five, six hours preaching Christ, standing out the front of pubs giving out tracts, getting abused and enjoying it for Jesus’ sake.

The Gospel is our gift to the world – let’s proclaim it confidently.

Then we would do church twice on Sunday. We’d go to work on Monday, but on Tuesday, we went to new Christians class – I went through a new Christians class three times until I finally learned what I was believing. Then we’d go to home group on Wednesday night, prayer meeting on Thursday night. Then Friday and Sunday, we’re out in the streets again. I’m here because of the quality of the life of the believers that I first encountered. I thank God that I was converted into church in revival.

That word “martyr” means someone who saw something and testifies to what they saw. Today, it also means someone who would not back down.

When the Lordship of Jesus is not taken seriously, the proclamation of the Gospel is ineffective. The church is too often looking for answers. Is it new music? Is it a new cultural form? Is it some new way of explaining ourselves? Is it this? Is it that? No – it’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s the only answer we have. That’s the only message we have to proclaim.

Let’s not be tame. Let’s not be self-contained. Let’s not be insular. Let’s not be satisfied. Let’s believe that there is a world that’s lost and needs to hear this life -changing message of Jesus Christ. Let’s lift up our eyes and see a harvest. Let’s lift up Jesus Christ and let Him bring people to faith. Let’s be courageous in our faith. Let’s hear the Spirit telling us to go to a desert road and meet an Ethiopian eunuch.

Let’s be led by the Spirit to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ: They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony and by the quality of their lives.

Most of us probably won’t have to die for Christ, but we’d better live for Christ. We’d better demonstrate the life-changing power of faith in Christ, the energising power of being filled by God, the Spirit. Let’s proclaim Jesus Christ in deed and in words.