The Contemporary Church is K – Knowledgeless
- 17 December 2023
In Hosea Ch 4 God indicts His OT Church for (i) its ignorance of God – no truth or mercy (v1) and (ii) its vulnerability to death/destruction for their lack of knowledge (v6). I want to lay the same charge at modern evangelicals. I want to do so on three fronts:
First, anyone philosophically astute will tell you that knowledge is ‘justified true belief.’ Over the course of a lifetime Cornelius Van Til brilliantly expounded how only Christianity, via the Scriptures, provides mankind with the necessary precondition for making human experience intelligible. Thereby, he showed conclusively that unless one starts with the presupposition of God and the truth of Scripture knowledge is inaccessible. The details of his work are well beyond the scope of this essay. But rest assured, Van Til’s great achievement puts the Christian Church in a very much stronger position than ever it was in before. His legacy ought to be recognised & celebrated more widely. Tragically, few properly understand his writings; worse still, many evangelicals misrepresent & decry his work. But those who make the effort and take time to learn from say Dr Greg Bahnsen – perhaps his best student – readily learn that presuppositional apologetics (i.e., the defense of the faith) represents a nuclear strength (biblical) approach to thinking compared with the more traditional ‘evidential’ alternative. If this sounds audacious, it’s only because you’ve become accustomed to thinking according to the spurious principles of this world (Col 2:8). According to Scripture, ‘in Christ are found all the treasures of knowledge and understanding’ (Col 2:3) and ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding’ (Pr 9:10). How empowering it is to realise that true religion represents the foundation of true Epistemology – i.e. the science of knowing. Bishop Anselm was right in affirming, ‘Credo ut intelligam’ – I believe that I might know! Alas, modern evangelicals have been intoxicated with Thomas Aquinas’ notion: that we learn autonomously as much as possible before necessarily taking a blind ‘leap of faith.’
The Churches need more principled shepherds capable of navigating the turbulent waters of contemporary academia and then standing firm upon the Bible’s own maxim – i/e. that only in the light of Scripture do we have the necessary explanatory paradigm to make sense of every empirical fact/observation – ‘With You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light’ (Ps 36:9). The pressing goal is the cultivation of a comprehensive worldview thoroughly informed by ‘every word of God’ (Matt 4:4) – see point three below.
Second, related to my first point, concerns conviction. I contend that the Churches have no (or minimal practical) confidence in the Word of God and therefore contend with the world from a posture of neutrality or, worse still, relativism. Too many Christians seeking to affirm God’s Truth tend to frame their propositions in keeping with the spirit of the post-modern age – i.e., as though his ideas are merely what ‘Christians believe’ OR ‘what the Bible teaches,’ etc. Christians are excessively fearful of sounding ‘judgemental, bigoted or certain’ and so are heard expressing things that are ‘true for me’ but not necessarily ‘true for you’. Instead, we must have the courage of our convictions and declare that Christianity doesn’t merely deserve a seat at the table of public discourse but rather ‘the table (of public disputation) belongs exclusively to Christ!’ No other competing worldview possesses the necessary foundation to make a reasonable/reasoned challenge. All non-theistic reasoning collapses under scrutiny to what Van Til described as a ‘watery ladder in a shoreless ocean.’ In other words, on analysis: all words presuppose meaning; meaning presupposes truth, truth presupposes logic and induction and logic/induction presuppose the Triune God of Scripture revealing His mind (in Scripture)! All of this comports with what Paul preached in Athens – ‘in Him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28). Bottom line: may God awaken the sleeping giant of His true Church to renew its confidence in the truth of Scripture in the public square.
Third, the damning indictment rehearsed by Hosea (4:1,6) signals the lack of knowledge among Christians of the Word of God. By way of illustration, notice we don’t tend to invest time, money and effort in improving our driving. Why not? After all, most of us would readily acknowledge that there is room for improvement in various manoeuvring techniques, knowledge of traffic laws, vehicle maintenance, etc,. The answer is obvious: because our present knowledge is enough to get us by! And it is if we reduce Christianity to the acquisition of one’s ticket to heaven. Few worry that they’re travelling third class to glory so long as they’re on the train! But consider (i) Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn 8:31-32). By this He signified the need for a twenty-four seven consideration of how the Scriptures apply to every human enterprise. To underscore the point Jesus cited Deut 8:3 reminding us that, “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4) – i.e. just as the body is dependent on food and drink for sustenance, even so, the soul of man lives moment by moment in proportion to whether Scripture is consciously invoked and applied. Recall how God rehearsed, through Moses, that true Israelites were to ‘put these words which I command you today into your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates’ (Deut 6:6-9). In other words, true Christians are OBSESSIVE about the Word of God! Everything we say and do MUST be governed by the Law of God. It ought to be our chief talking point, the principal subject of conversation with our children and our first and last thought each day. But this is not generally how we tend to live is it? Few Bibles are worn out; most Bible study takes place at Church on Sunday or else at a midweek meeting. We spend more time in recreation or keeping up with social media than we do familiarising ourselves deeply with Scripture.
The psalmist celebrates the power and greatness of God’s twofold revelation in (i) Creation and (ii) the Word of God. Let us reflect, in closing, on his conclusions:
‘The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward.’ (Ps 19:7-11)
