“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Recently, I talked to some friends about how difficult it is to communicate the Gospel to someone who recognizes no higher authority beyond himself. Equally (if not more) difficult is communicating the Gospel to someone who acknowledges God and even divine revelation, but would rather trust his own reasoning than trust the Bible for what it says.
In my opinion, the latter is the more troubling stance, for I find it contradictory: how can someone acknowledge the presence of a God who is perfect in power, wisdom, and love, while denying that He is gracious and mighty enough to reveal His will to those who earnestly seek Him through His Word?
This is how one of my friends, a seminarian studying at Gordon-Conwell, explained the second stance: The Wesleyan Quadrilateral identifies four resources for theological reflection–Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience. Theologians who privilege Scripture less just rely more on the other three resources to discern God’s character and will. They reason that God speaks to people in many ways, and therefore, we should not go exclusively or even primarily to Scripture for knowledge of the truth.
I sympathize with the sentiment behind this stance, because there was a time when I shared it; however, I have since come to my senses and realized that the fear of the Lord is indeed the beginning of knowledge, and that we can know nothing unless it has been revealed to us by God, in whom we live and move and have our being.
My first year at Amherst College was a disorienting time, and I seemed to know few things for certain. But even then, God spoke to me through another friend, a seminarian studying at Princeton, who recommended that I reread the first two chapters of 1 Corinthians. I followed his advice and was deeply encouraged by those verses, which poured truth like rain over my parched soul.
There were comforting words that reminded me to trust God, even when I couldn’t trust myself: “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful” (1 Corinthians 1:8-9).
There were humbling words that reminded me to rely on the power of God, and not on the strength of human perception or persuasion: “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength” (1 Corinthians 1:22-25).
There were encouraging words that reminded me to be confident in Christ: “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).
There were also empowering words, reminding me that the wisdom of God is neither fantasy nor superstition, but rather divine truth that stands forever, though the wisdom of the world does pass away: “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing” (1 Corinthians 2:6).
There were also amazing words, testifying that the deep mysteries of God in Christ Jesus are being revealed even in me, through the Holy Spirit: “…God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words…’For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:10-13; 16).
If there is a God, then He must be that much greater than I. ”‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
He must be that much wiser, mightier, and lovelier. He must be that much more gracious and generous than I am, or even than I hope for Him to be. He is the Heavenly Father who gives good gifts to His children, so that we may be lacking in nothing as we continue to grow in His image.
If you tend to prefer your own instincts over God’s Word, I urge you to trust God and to struggle longer and harder with the parts of Scripture that confound human reason, tradition, or experience. Jacob wrestled with the Lord until He blessed him. When we seek to comprehend anything of God’s, we must contend with His brilliance in our blindness, we must confront our weakness before His mightiness, and we must confess our limitations in order to receive His unlimited grace.
We must wrestle with the Lord as well, and wrestle with His Word. But we should also wrestle in prayer and wrestle against that very human urge to add and subtract from the Word of God, rather than let God’s Word multiply wisdom in our hearts. And as we wrestle, let us rejoice in the blessing and help that is promised:
“Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid’” (John 14:23-27).
“O what peace we often forfeit, o what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!”
When you are lost in dark confusion, let God’s Word be the lamp unto your feet and the light for your path. If you believe in God, then go to Him. Run to Him. Pray to Him humbly and sincerely, and ask Him to reveal His wisdom to you. He promises that He will…if you’d let Him.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does” (James 1:5-8).
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” – God’s promise, from Jeremiah 29:13
