Certitude in an Uncertain World

Certitude in an Uncertain World
We live in an age of tremendous uncertainty. People are not sure of anything and they are not sure that you can know anything with any degree of certitude. In fact, many are quite sure that they know you cannot really “know” anything, but they don’t “know” how they “know” that.
How do you know and how do you know that you know? And what is meaningful in life and what is the meaning of meaning? Who are you? Why are you here, how did you get here, and what are you going to do while you’re here–and why? And then where are you going–and why? How are you going to get there? Why are there so many different things and places in the world? Where is unity within the diversity of life? How did the world and the universe get here? Who put it here and for what purposes? Where did you get the ability to think and reason? But is your reasoning reasonable or valid or logical or true? What is truth? Who or what is the standard for truth? Can people communicate with one another so that they understand? Were you programmed to do all the things you do or do you make meaningful decisions that affect the external form of the universe or that affect human history?

You’ll recognize these questions as some of the basic philosophical/theological questions of life, particularly of epistemology (which means “how we know and how we know that we know.”) How can you find answers to those questions? It may not be as difficult as you think because the Bible claims to have the answers to ALL those questions! Does it? Well, yes it does, but are they the correct or true answers? How do you know? One way to get at this problem is simply to take the Bible at its word and accept the “self-authenticating claims” of the Bible and accept the Bible’s answers to all the above questions.
When you stop to think about it, you really only have two choices: you either accept what the Bible for what it claims to be, the very Word of the Living God, or you reject it and say it is NOT the Word of God; it is only man-made, contradictory fragments–like every other book that has ever been written.

Now there’s a problem in reasoning like this. You’re setting yourself up as Judge over the Bible and you are trying to decide whether it is in fact what it claims to be, the God-breathed Word of the only living and true God who has existed eternally, and has all power and all knowledge and all authority in heaven and in earth. Jesus Himself said that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4 And if Jesus, who claimed to be God, says that God spoke in the words of the Bible and you say, “No, He didn’t,” then you are calling God a liar.

Well, now, that’s O.K. IF God does not in fact exist or IF He didn’t actually inspire the writers of the Bible supernaturally or IF God is not in fact a God of righteousness and justice and IF you want to risk NOT standing before God as Judge as the Bible claims, “For the word of God is living and active . . . discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Heb. 4:12-13 ESV
Well, you know you can’t really be the “judge” because no one gave you that authority and you are not self-created. You didn’t give yourself, existence, or life or breath and you can’t keep yourself alive or teach yourself something you don’t know out of your own limited or finite knowledge. But you do have to make a decision. You do have to decide. You do have to live. So here’s how you can put truth to the test. You’ve only got two choices: either the Bible is what it claims to be, the Word of the Living God and Jesus is who He claims to be, the eternal Son of God to whom “all authority in heaven and earth is given unto me” Mt. 28:18 or else it’s not.

So let’s assume first that it is not. Then you’re on your own and you have to make your own universe and your own value system and your own code of ethics and your own purposes in life. That’s what most people do and you can see the results with your own eyes: chaos, relativism, wars, and strife. After all if all “truth” is relative and “my truth” is as good or as valid as “your truth,” it should be obvious that no one has to pay any attention to anyone else–except as they might cooperate simply for survival. History is strewn with the shipwrecked ideas of man who thought he was going somewhere but finally discovered he had arrived at nowhere.

So try the second alternative since you really only have two choices: let’s seriously consider the claims of scripture and the claims of Jesus (after all most people seem to think He was a pretty good man and they killed Him even though He was always trying to help people and never harmed anyone.)

Actually Jesus gave us an awesome challenge and a lot of people have never heard of it. It’s just a tiny little comment tucked away in the middle of the 7th chapter of the Gospel of John. You see, although Jesus was the eternal Son of God, existing forever from all eternity past, while He was here on earth, He deliberately totally subordinated Himself to God the Father and taught what the Father wanted Him to teach. So when some people who didn’t like what He was claiming, “they were amazed and asked’ How did this man get such learning without having studied?”

But listen to Jesus’ answer to that question (and I’ll paraphrase it slightly) “Jesus answered, ‘My teaching is not my own. It comes from Him who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do God’s will, he shall know whether my teaching comes from God Himself or whether I speak as a man.” (John 7:16-17)

So why not accept the challenge? If you’re willing to go God’s way instead of your own way, you can begin reading the Bible and God will help you discern whether it is really the truth of God as it claims to be or not. And I would suggest you begin reading the Gospel of John and as you read, keep in mind your ONLY two options: it is either true as it says or it is not. So you must at least consider the possibility that it is in fact the true word of God. And when you begin thinking in those terms, a whole new world opens up before your very eyes. I’ll tell you what will happen if you do that honestly: God Himself will convince your heart that what you are reading really happened and it’s true. Try it. “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” Psalm 34:8 “Test all things; hold fast to that which is good.” And what’s your criteria? How do you recognize what is “good.”

Now look at all the things the omniscient, all-wise God tells us we “know”–if we know God through Jesus Christ who came to reveal God to man. “For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 2 Cor. 5:1 In other words, when we die, God has a place or a body for us to live in, in heaven.

“Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That you might know the certainty of those things, wherein you have been instructed.” Luke 1:1-4 No “epistemological uncertainty” here! They saw what Jesus did and said and they know they saw it.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Cor. 15:58 Now how did they “know” that? Because the omniscient God who knows all things, told them so.

1 John 2:3 “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.”
1 John 5:13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

In the Greek language in which the New Testament was written, there are different words translated “know” in English. One is ginosko which means “to know in the sense of realizing.” Another is eidon “to see” in the sense of perceiving knowledge. “Ginosko frequently suggests progress in ‘knowledge,’ while eidon or oida suggests fullness of knowledge.” A third Greek word epiginosko means “knowing full well.”
You can detect the difference in the way the English is expressed. For example, I Cor. 13:12 “now I know in part (ginosko) but then shall I know (piginosko) even as also I have been known (epiginosko).” Epignosis is “knowledge directed towards a particular object, perceiving, discerning,” whereas gnosis is knowledge in the abstract. To have the fuller knowledge (and not just a casual knowledge), a greater participation by the “knower” in the object “known,” thus more powerfully influencing him. Proginosko means “to know beforehand” and is used of divine “foreknowledge” of what is going to happen.

The concept of “knowledge” of God and His truth is obtained, not by mere intellectual effort, but by the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing that knowledge to believers. The longer we walk with the Lord and the more we experience the strength He gives us and live in the light of His Word, the greater is our confidence in Him, but the single most important reason why we have such a steadfast confidence and conviction of truth is because of the witness of the Holy Spirit directly to our hearts. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Romans 8:16 And not only that we are the children of God but that God is the faithful God, the God of truth. The very name “Holy” Spirit testifies to His character. And He is the One who brings that inner conviction to us.

John Calvin explained it this way: “the testimony of the Spirit is more excellent than all reason. For as God alone is a fit witness of Himself in His Word, so also the Word will not find acceptance in men’s hearts before it is sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit. The same Spirit, therefore, who has spoken through the mouths of the prophets must penetrate into our hearts to persuade us that they faithfully
proclaimed what had been divinely commanded. Isaiah very aptly expresses this connection in these words: ‘My Spirit which is in you, and the words that I have put in your mouth, and the mouths of your offspring, shall never fail.’” Isaiah 59:21 (The Institutes, 1.7.4, vol. I, p. 79) So the Holy Spirit authenticates to our hearts what He earlier inspired as the “God-breathed” scripture. 2 Timothy 3.16

A hundred years later the Westminster Confession of Faith expressed that great Biblical truth this way: “We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church to an high and reverent esteem of the holy Scripture. And the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts,
the scope of the whole (which is, to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God: yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.” (Westminster Confession of Faith, 1643-46, I.5)

That’s why the Apostle Paul wrote, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance. . . .” Ephesians 1:18 NIV

That’s why we teach our children to place their confidence in God as a Biblical act of faith and pray that act of the will, that obedience to God, will be rewarded by the inner testimony of certitude in the heart put there by the Holy Spirit. One of the Psalms brings all that together: “That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.” Psalm 78:6-7 God is our Refuge, our objective security outside of ourselves and He is also our confidence, our subjective assurance of truth and of the future. God is the source objectively of truth and He also brings the subjective assurance that we know Him. “Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath
quickened me.” [brought life and renewed my spirit] Psalm 119:49-50

“So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain. . . .” Hebrews 6:17-19

And the very common word hope in scripture in both Hebrew and Greek implies absolute certainty because you are expecting and anticipating that which you hope for. You are looking forward to what is most surely going to happen in the future. It’s not necessary to be adrift, lost on the uncharted sea of relativism.
–Pastor Burnside