By Jon Bolie
Introduction
When it comes to the matter of faith, there is only one legitimate definition; knowing that something is true and trusting in that fact. You cannot have faith that is ‘blind’. Now, you may not understand everything about God (we don’t… we have limited [finite] minds, while God’s is infinite), but we can know something.
The Reason
The reason the gospels were written was to give us an actual account of an event (actually, events) that really happened in the context of history and reality, concerning Jesus Christ. The very fact that they wrote the gospels shows that we are to use our minds in believing the gospel. All that we hear, see, read, etc… goes into our minds and our minds make a decision for Christ.
Sure, affections and the heart are involved, in fact, necessarily involved (for we cannot be neutral on any subject that we’ve heard, seen or experienced) but neither mind alone, nor heart alone, are sufficient. Besides the role of the Holy Spirit in regeneration before we can come to Christ, the information of the gospel must be grasped and consented to by our brains. In fact, ‘heart knowledge’ is a category mistake (logical fallacy); it is best described as a heart change, which is a change in our affections toward Christ, God, the Gospel, etc…
But, in squawking about ‘head knowledge’ and ‘heart knowledge’, people forget that God created both our faculty of thought and reason, and of feelings, affections and emotions. Minimizing either of these belittles God and His design for us as humans. These two faculties are not diametrically opposed, for, if we minimize one and focus on the other, we get woefully out of balance. We must use each as they are intended by God, for He created them for a purpose. Do not call what God created evil, or sub-Gospel. They are both used in the Christian life and therefore in the apprehending of the Gospel and God’s Word (the Bible).
Biblically, there are foundations for what we sometimes (mistakenly, and derogatorily) refer to as ‘heady’ knowledge [i.e. “that’s too ‘heady’ of a thought….that’s for academics in an ivory tower.”, etc…].
Luke’s Gospel (chapter 1, vv. 1-4) maximizes this ‘heady’ knowledge and its role in our knowing Jesus.
“Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
In Luke’s sequel, Acts, he does the same thing.
“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to teach and to do until the day He was taken up to Heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen. After His suffering, He showed Himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that He was in fact alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days, and spoke about the kingdom of God…” (Acts 1:1-3).
[The underlined pieces in the second book of Luke (above) indicate events in time, showing that these are historically based. The bolded sections indicate that Jesus gave proof, and that apologetics was alive and well, even before the rise and growth of the early Church.]
Now, in these pieces of Scripture, written by Paul’s associate Luke, we see the importance of knowing and preaching (you must know before you preach) “Christ and Him crucified.” (This quote from Paul is actually an apologetic in itself, showing that Paul knew, believed, and preached that Christ was actually crucified…that it really happened in finite time, it’s not just some theory, it REALLY happened.) Paul himself told us that if Christ is not resurrected, our faith is in vain and is empty and useless.
We do not believe in the absence of proof; our faith is grounded on a solid foundation of proof and facts and events. These things really happened, and that’s why our faith is potent, not because we believe it without knowing, but we believe it because of what really happened. If it didn’t happen, but we believed it anyway, it wouldn’t do us a bit of good, but the gospel is historically accurate and true, therefore our faith in it, by the grace of God, is effective.
Giving the Reason
Peter tells us we must give a reason (note he didn’t say ‘a feeling’) for the hope that is in us. Hope is the feeling, or affection, the ‘heart knowledge’ if you will, and it’s based on a reason. Note further that Peter said ‘THE’ reason, not ‘A’ reason. The reason is Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection and ascension, all three being events in history, things that truly really did happen. This hope is not based on another feeling or affection, it’s based on a fact. We must have both sides and we must know where each kicks in. ‘Head knowledge’ is the basis of our belief, ‘Hope’ is the substance of our belief. We must have both.
Jesus really was prophesied about in times past (the Old Testament),
He really was born of a virgin,
He really lived a perfect and sinless life,
He really performed miracles to confirm His deity and His Sonship,
He really died in our place for our sins,
He really rose again after 3 days by the power of God,
He really appeared to many people for 40 days, teaching them about the kingdom of God,
He really ascended into heaven to bring us eternal life,
He really sent the Holy Spirit to us and charged us with preaching this Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit.
We are saved on the basis of what Christ did (foundation…this is the fact, the evidence and the ‘head knowledge’), through the empty hands of faith (belief is the outworking of what really happened, and is brought about by regeneration from the Holy Spirit).
Besides being the foundation of our faith, this evidence and knowledge and investigation into the field of ‘apologetics’ (knowing WHY you believe what you believe) is an evangelistic tool, plowing the fields of peoples’ hearts to receive the Gospel.
What do you say to someone who asks the question, “Can God create a rock so big He can’t move it?”, or maybe “Why is Jesus the only way? Can’t I believe in enlightenment like the Buddha taught?” and even “Is there really a God? I don’t think He’s real. The natural and physical are all that is here.”
Many times in not thinking through our faith, we become disillusioned with thoughts of anti-intellectualism. We cannot rely solely on intellect, but we cannot disregard it either. Remember, God is a God of reason, of logic and of wisdom. There is a reason the laws of logic are immovable, they flow straight from the character and nature of God Himself. God cannot exist and not exist at the same time, God cannot subject Himself to something other than Himself (for He is the highest being). God cannot be both good and not good at the same time. God is God, He is not something else. God is not bound by logic, he is the basis of logic, therefore He is logical. His wisdom is higher than ours but it is still wisdom, and wisdom rests in knowledge of truth, AS WELL as in the truth of goodness (which is likewise based on God Himself, for God is good, and God is love).
Faith is not sub-intellectual, it is most definitely more than intellectual, but it is not less than intellectual. This is compared to the statement, “I don’t have a religion, I have a relationship with Jesus.” This is false; Christianity is not less than a religion. It is certainly a religion, and most indefinitely more than a religion, but it can never be and therefore never has been less than a religion. Religion is what sinful man does to try to earn favor in the sight of God or some false God in order to obtain some random hope of which they do not know. Christianity actually provides salvation, it is doing something for God in response to being saved by His grace, not to earn salvation. And furthermore we know what our Hope is. Read Revelation and the statements of Jesus in the Gospels, and the words of the Epistles. We have a hope and we know it and furthermore we know why we have the hope and it is not based on our own works, but those of Christ, making this entire issue something of extreme (life or death) value.
Conclusion
People are hungry and searching for truth, and the Bible (the Gospel), God and Christianity holds that truth. But are we prepared to tell them why it’s the truth? Let’s tell them the truth and then given them reasons for it being truth.
God gave us reasons freely, so let’s freely give them to others.
Note
It is beyond the scope of this small post to thoroughly defend the reasons of “Why Do We Believe the Gospel?” Please see the following websites for more in-depth information:
The Purpose of Our Creation Fulfilled by Dr. Francis Schaeffer
http://www.labri.org/england/resources/05052008/FS01_Purpose_Creation.pdf
The New Atheism and Five Arguments for God by Dr. William Lane Craig
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/the-new-atheism-and-five-arguments-for-god#ixzz3KP6wWAiN
The Evidence for Jesus by Dr. William Lane Craig
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/the-evidence-for-jesus
What is the Relation between Science and Religion? by Dr. William Lane Craig
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/what-is-the-relation-between-science-and-religion
Jon Bolie is currently a senior Theology student at Trinity Bible College in Ellendale, ND. When not at school he lives in Orange City, IA. He has a burden for ministry to the Church with a goal of strengthening theological and apologetics learning. He wants to see more of our people equipped to engage unbelievers and to be strong in their own faith. He is hoping to go to Covenant Seminary after Trinity Bible College and then hopefully to get a Masters in philosophy somewhere down the line. He is a member of the Christian Apologetics Alliance and the Society for Pentecostal Studies (SPS).
{This post was originally published June 28, 2011 as a doc in the CAA’s original Facebook group, before what has come to be known as the Great Facebook Glitch of 2013. Publishing it to this blog is part of an effort to restore the salvaged treasure from the beginnings of our beloved group. Thank you to Roland Frank Tignor for making this happen.}