Theology Proper: studying God
Theology simply means the study of God. Theology Proper narrows that focus to the doctrine of God himself, rather than topics such as the church, sin, or the future. It asks questions like: What is God like? Is he one? Is he holy, loving, eternal, and personal? What has he made, and how does he relate to people?
Scripture introduces God as the Creator of all things and teaches that he alone is God (Genesis 1:1; Deuteronomy 6:4). It also shows his character. Isaiah sees the Lord's holiness, while John says that love belongs to God's very nature (Isaiah 6:3; 1 John 4:8). Theology Proper is not only collecting abstract ideas. It is learning to know, honour, and trust the living God.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
Paterology: the doctrine of the Father
Paterology comes from the Greek word patēr, meaning father. It is the study of God the Father. It considers what the Bible says about the Father’s character and works, including his role in creation, his sending of the Son, and his welcome of believers into his family.
Calling God Father does not mean he is a larger version of a human parent. Human fathers are imperfect. Rather, Scripture presents him as the true Father from whom fatherhood receives its name and meaning (Ephesians 3:14-15). Jesus teaches his followers to approach God as their Father, with reverence and real confidence (Matthew 6:9).
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Paterology also helps us notice that the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Holy Spirit. At Jesus’ baptism, the Son is in the water, the Spirit descends, and the Father speaks from heaven (Matthew 3:16-17). Yet Christians confess one God, not three gods, because Scripture affirms God’s oneness while naming the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19).
This is why Christians speak of the Trinity. The word Trinity is not found in the Bible, but it is a short way of describing this biblical witness. No formula removes the mystery of God. Still, Scripture gives enough to keep us from treating the Father, Son, and Spirit as merely different names for the same person.
What the Father does for us
The Father’s love is seen most clearly in his giving of the Son for the world’s salvation (John 3:16). Jesus also speaks of the Father sending the Holy Spirit to teach and remind his people of Christ’s words (John 14:26). Paterology therefore is not an exercise in distant theory. It points to the Father’s generous purpose to bring people near through his Son.
Paul says that God sent his Son so that those who trust him might receive adoption, and that the Spirit enables them to cry to God as Father (Galatians 4:4-6). That does not make every life easy, but it means believers are not relating to God as strangers trying to earn a place. They are invited to know him as Father.
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.