Intellectual Study By Faith

The late Princeton theologian J. Gresham Machen, once wrote:

It is useless to proclaim a gospel that people cannot hold to be true. No amount of emotional appeal can do anything against the truth. The question of fact cannot permanently be evaded. Did Christ or did he not rise from the dead? Is the Bible trustworthy or is it false? The Christian religion flourishes not in the darkness but in the light. Intellectual slothfulness is but a quack remedy for unbelief. The true remedy is consecration of all of our intellectual powers to the service of our Lord Jesus Christ.¹

Suppressed Questions and Doubts

I wholeheartedly agree with this quote and can personally attest to the way in which “intellectual slothfulness” can act as a fake remedy for unbelief. In the past, I have suppressed various doubts about my Christian faith and did not pursue answers to the doubts. In hindsight, this was a form of Machen’s quack remedy for unbelief. I was not really sure if Christianity could answer those questions, so I kept myself from really asking them. What I lacked was a humble, yet confident, faith in the risen Jesus Christ. Although many areas of my faith have been challenged and various positions I’ve held have changed, one thing not only remains, but has been strengthened powerfully: That Jesus Christ died for my sins, was buried, and that three days later he rose from the grave. 

While not always the case, many Christians can be afraid of exploring the intellectual side of their faith. What fuels this fear? Why would a Christian be fearful of an intellectual pursuit of knowledge, while they proclaim to be a believer of Truth incarnate? (John 14:6) Perhaps it is because they know of a former Christian who fell away when on such a pursuit? Or perhaps, doubts and fears reside about what could be out there? Nevertheless, we profess to know God, the author of truth. We need not fear to learn about this world, nor about our faith.

Pride and Humility 

However, when pursuing the intellectual aspects surrounding the Christian faith, several considerations should be given due attention. We must remember that it is not the proud, the knowledgeable, and the arrogant that God looks to, but it is the humble and contrite of heart and he who trembles at God’s Word (Isaiah 66:2, Matt. 5:3). Therefore, it makes no sense to take an aggressive critical attitude toward the Bible that many, even professing believers, take towards it. By no means does the Bible give the impression that God, the source of all truth, will reveal any truth to someone seeking to put Him to the test. The scriptures must be approached with faith (Hebrews 11:6).

Now this does not mean that the Bible cannot be critically engaged with and that God cannot be reasoned with (Isaiah 1:18). By faith we believe that God’s Word is truth. Therefore, the Christian has confidence to proceed with seeking to understand the world and how the scriptures fit in with human nature, the transmission and reliability of biblical texts, the fields of history, geology, and all the sciences in general.

There has been much research done proving that modern science arose within a Christian worldview, precisely because Christianity provides a rational expectation for humans to be able to obtain knowledge about the world. The belief that human beings are made in the image of God, that the world and universe are intimately created and sustained by God, and that there is a mandate for humans to subdue the earth, all give a strong grounding for the pursuit of knowledge through science (Genesis 1-3).

For the believer, this pursuit of knowledge is done with faith in the truthfulness and reality of God. When seeking out answers to objections to Christianity, those who already believe should not make the mistake of putting themselves on so-called “neutral” ground. The believer is not neutral. Have we not been convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit? (John 16:8) Have we not confessed Jesus Christ as Lord? (Romans 10:9) Have we not vowed to worship the one and only true God with all our heart, mind and soul? (Matthew 22:37) Have we not been born again? (John 3:7)

Believer, we are not our own (I Cor. 6:19). Walk with confidence in the Lord and do not put the Lord your God to the test (Deut. 6:16). This is clearly not a call to refrain from intellectual engagement or to bury our heads in the sand, but it is a call not to enter the unbeliever’s mind as if you did not believe so as to be “fair” or “objective.” You and I both lost that right the moment we declared Jesus Christ as Lord (Luke 9:62).

Faith Seeking Understanding 

The practical application here is that when you are doubting or concerned about the way the New Testament texts were handed down, you should not go running to see what agnostic and hostile New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman has to say on the matter to get both sides of the debate. If you are concerned about evolutionary biology and how it relates to human origins, you are not to put yourself in militant Neo-Darwinist Richard Dawkins’s shoes. Does that mean you ignore these matters? Certainly not. But if you claim to be in the body of Christ, go to the body of Christ! There are many faithful brothers and sisters in Christ across an array of fields of study who have the experience and expertise to engage these matters faithfully as followers of Christ.

Some Christians are called to engage directly with Christianity’s opponent’s text. And, as one matures, there is a place for lay Christians to do likewise, but always with humility and discernment. The concern that I am addressing is the way in which many Christians with doubts will often set Christ on the same playing field as all other ideas, as if they were not already Christians. It is one thing for an unbeliever to examine arguments this way, but for a follower of Christ it is reckless and goes against basic discipleship.

God has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Col. 1:13). Do not put the Light to test and once again enter the darkness. Engage the darkness, but only from the Light. Proceed humbly, relying on God, who alone gives truth. Proceed prayerfully knowing that it is the living and one true God whom we serve (Isaiah 45:5). Proceed cautiously, knowing the reality of the spiritual forces of deception which capture the unsuspecting (II Corinthians 4:4, Eph. 6:12). But still proceed in your study, in resolving your doubts, in seeking answers, for we believe Christ has risen and this is our confidence. May we remember that ours is a childlike faith of dependence, not a childish faith of ignorance.

Notes

1. Quoted in: Michael Horton, “Is Faith Opposed to Evidence?” Modern Reformation, January 10, 2019, https://www.whitehorseinn.org/2019/01/the-mod-is-faith-opposed-to-evidence/

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash

Further Reading 

• On Christian Scholarship: Do Not Assume the Sheep Will Follow
• C.S. Lewis’ Warning to Apologists