14 Jan 2024
We have looked at the great impediment of intellectual pride, which is closely related to human reason and logic.
We need to affirm that the proper ground for believing a thing is not that the church or reason says it: rather the proper ground for believing a thing is that God says it in his written Word, and a readiness to take God’s Word and accept what he asserts in the BIble is thus fundamental to faith.
In other words, spiritual things have to be spiritually discerned, and whenever God’s Word is proclaimed, hearts are either humbled or hardened – there is no neutrality.
This is not to say that church tradition is unimportant. On the contrary, it yields much valuable help in understanding what Scripture teaches. Tradition may not be lightly dismissed, but neither may it be made a separate authority apart from Scripture. Like every commentary on the BIble, it must itself be tested and, where necessary, corrected by the Bible which it seeks to expound.
Nor may reason be viewed as an independent authority for our knowledge of God’s truth. Reason’s part is to act as the servant of the written Word, seeking in dependence on the Spirit to interpret Scripture scripturally, to correlate its teaching and to discern its application to all parts of life.
We must not look to reason to tell us whether Scripture is right in what it says (reason is not in any case competent to pass such a judgment). Instead, we must look to the Scriptures to tell us whether reason is right in what it thinks on the subject with which Scripture deals. If we ‘tie up’ reason with the intellect and logic, then in the final sense, we cannot use reason and our intellect (which includes research, study of historical background, debates on theological controversies) to pass judgment on the accuracy and truth of the Bible. Reason and intellect (as God-given and especially the enquiring mind) may be helpful in helping us to throw light on the truth in Scripture but they cannot be the final authority. This is especially so in our current age when deep fake news, chatGPT, and other avenues can come out with facts and figures which may seem convincing in questioning the written Word of God (eg. questioning miracles, virgin’s birth. the reality of angels etc.) and which contradict the authority of God and the Scripture.
Man-made wisdom and intelligence (which includes liberalism that maintains that modern literary and historical criticism had exploded the doctrine of an inerrant Bible; and modern science that had made it impossible to believe in the supernatural as Scripture presents it; and modern philosophy required the dismissal of such basic biblical concepts as original sin, the wrath of God etc.) depends on works, and has no need to humble itself under God’s mighty hand. It has become a satisfactory substitute for God, but God will yet break in on such arrogance and hypocrisy.
Instead of living for God in obedience to His Word, those who depend on reason and tradition are given over to formalism, and human traditions. Man-made legalism will always be attractive because it is self-justifying (for it builds up self-justification and pride) and its external ‘devotion’, in religious orthodoxy and human rules, masks a substitute for a heart that truly draws near to God.
Those who depend on reason (which includes human intellect and logic) and tradition instead of God’s Word as the final authority imagine that they are wiser than God, and so although they are only clay ports formed by the potter, they despise their creation (Isaiah 29:16; Rom. 9:21-23). But if they think they can turn things upside down and make their own rules (under the pretext of being intellectually honest historically, theologically, philosophically and what have you) in God’s world, then God will soon turn their world upside down. God’s Word then will no longer be a closed book – its values would prevail and the pride and self-sufficiency of rebellious man will be removed, and the humble and needy will rejoice in God and His vindication.