Will Rogers is credited with saying something like
this: "It is not what people don't
know that is the trouble. The trouble
is caused by what people think they know that ain't so."
Most
Christians can relate to this. How many
times we have met people, who were convinced of something, when we knew it
wasn't so. They "know" that
evolution is a fact, and that science has disproved the Bible. They "know" that Christians once
believed in a flat earth. They
"know" that everyone is sexually promiscuous. They "know" that Christians are
moralistic hypocrites. And so it
goes. Christians are also accused of
thinking they know things that just can't be true: the Virgin Birth of Christ;
His resurrection from the dead; the infallibility of the Bible, and many other
such things.
How
you can be certain? It is critical for
you to be sure of what you think you know.
But such certainty is largely ignored in the modern day. "What is true for you," is all
that matters. "Even the Bible
means different things to different people, and everyone is convinced his ideas
are correct," goes the modern refrain.
The Bible is therefore irrelevant in the public marketplace of
ideas. In fact, even the marketplace of
ideas has no legal tender, and everyone brings his own species. Even Christian people often enter into the
marketplace with the coin of another kingdom, hoping thereby to trade on equal
terms with aliens.
Does
the Bible present an epistemology that will retain its value no matter what the
coin of the realm is? This writer is
convinced that it does, and that it is summarized in Psalm 19. The following is a brief outline of the
Psalm:
Part
One: vs. 1-6: The testimony of Creation.
Part
Two: vs. 7-11: The testimony of Scripture.
Part
Three: vs. 12-14: The testimony of the Spirit in the heart.
Part One: vs. 1-6. Creation speaks with a clear voice to all
people in terms that they can and do understand. The heavens and the firmament show the glory of God to all men,
for there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. They hear and they understand the message,
according to the plain words of Paul in Romans 1:19,20. God created all things by His Wise and
Powerful Word, and the message penetrates to the heart of every man--even man's
own rational and emotional makeup declare the truth concerning God. This truth leaves men without excuse, for
his suppression of this truth results in the denial of his own rationality and
renders him thankless and disapproved of God.
Judgment rests upon men because of this denial, for the denial leaves
his very reason under judgment and blinded (Romans 1:28).
This
revelation of God includes his moral law, for man cannot escape his moral
nature, imbedded in his very consciousness, that witness we call
conscience. God's moral law is planted
in the very warp and woof of man's being, according to Romans 2:14,15. Man must make moral judgments, but by the
very exercise of his moral nature he condemns himself, for he transgresses in
the very things in which he condemns others (Romans 2:1-3). Because of his transgressions, his
conscience is seared as with a hot iron, and his alienation from God is revealed
in his perverted moral judgments: for he puts good for evil and evil for
good. But the truth remains: created
in the image of God, man must make such decisions, and thereby shows himself
corrupt. He may deny that there are
any moral standards that apply to all men, but even in this assertion he shows
himself corrupt by waging war on "evil" Christians who affirm such
standards.
This revelation of God in Creation is absolutely necessary for knowledge;
it comes with absolute authority and clarity, and is sufficient to leave men
without excuse before God.
Part Two: vs. 7-11. Because man is corrupt in reason and in
conscience, God in His mercy and grace, has given man a written revelation,
which we call the Bible. This witness
is perfect and, with the Holy Spirit, converts the soul. The written testimony is sure, and makes the
simple wise. Those who receive the
testimony of the Lord find that it is true and righteous altogether. In no way do God's written testimonies
contradict the witness of Creation: either in the glory of God revealed in the
heavens, or in the moral witness in the consciences of men. Many a man, whose conscience has been
seared and deadened, has found his conscience awakened by the reading or
preaching of the Scriptures, and has found repentance and faith. The words are more precious than the best
gold, and are sweeter than the best dainties that the world can offer. "Thy words were found, and I did eat
them; and they were the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by thy
name, O Lord of Hosts" (Jer. 15:16).
Scripture
has no meaning except within the context of God's revelation in Creation and
the history of the world. The
Scripture speaks of people, of sheep, of houses and lands, of money and
business, of love and hate. It speaks
of the Wisdom of God, the Lord Jesus, who entered into this world of Creation,
to suffer a historical death, the death of a creature of God, in order to
redeem God's creation and put away sin forever. If we deny Creation, the objective truth of Scripture slips away,
and leaves each man locked into his own mind and imagination (or lack of it).
The
warnings of Scripture keep the wise person in the way of truth. There is great reward for loving and keeping
to the Scripture. This revelation of
God in Scripture is also absolutely necessary for knowledge. The Scriptures
speak with absolute authority and clarity; and are sufficient as the only
objective standard of truth concerning man's origin, purpose, and redemption. They clearly reveal the Lord Jesus Christ in
the Gospel as the only Savior and Redeemer of mankind.
Part Three: vs. 12-14. But the testimony of Creation--both outward
an inward--or the witness of the Scripture is not sufficient if the heart
remains alienated from God. The heart
is not disposed naturally to seek the Lord, either in His works of Creation or
in the testimony of Scripture.
Notwithstanding, he is without excuse for these objective standards
reveal the bias and wicked blindness of his heart.
"Who
can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults?' the Psalmist
cries. As long as pride and arrogance
rules the heart, we are blinded from the truth. We may kill people--even Christians--thinking we have done God
service. There is no drunkenness like
pride, which blinds the mind and renders true knowledge impossible.
The
first work of the Spirit in the heart is to abase pride and take away
confidence in the flesh. "I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust
and ashes," is the testimony of Job (Job 42:5,6). The testimony of Isaiah was similar: "Then said I, Woe is me! for I am
undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of
hosts" (Isaiah 6:5).
This
work of the Holy Spirit is necessary for knowledge and sufficient to unite the
soul to Jesus Christ, who is the way the truth and the life. In connection with the Scripture, the Holy
Spirit brings assurance of salvation and newness of life. Being God, His work is authoritative and
clear, condemning the flesh and its works and causing Christ to be formed in
us. This grace that brings salvation
teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, to live soberly and
righteously in the present world (Titus 2:11,12).
Proud
confidence of knowledge is one of the devil's great works, for it renders the
heart immune to knowledge. Only the
power of the Spirit can break up the heart of stone, and give a heart that
knows God and the truth: "I will
put my law into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to
them a God, and they shall be to me a people; and they shall not teach every man
his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall
know me, from the least to the greatest" (Heb. 8:10,11).
Summary: These
three things are absolutely necessary for true knowledge. If there appears to be any contradiction
between them: the testimony of Creation; the testimony of Scripture; and the
testimony of the Holy Spirit in the heart, then the soul should be greatly
concerned, for it means that it does not know as it ought, and does not know
what it thinks it knows, for God cannot deny Himself in any of His works:
either in Creation, in Scripture, or in the work of the Spirit in the
heart. These all with one voice speak
the truth about God.
What a
fine prayer closes this great Psalm on epistemology! "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart,
be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer." Truth is not what I perceive it to be, but
what is approved of God and acceptable in His sight. If not approved and acceptable in His sight, what I think I know
just "ain't so."
