Fast Link Index:

The Possibility of Real Human Knowledge
We humans are made in the image of God. Of course that does not mean we look like him, or that he has limitations like the ones we have. It means that there are things in our nature that reflect the influence of our Creator. We are his handiwork designed to show the imprint of his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.

Since truth is one of the attributes of God which we are designed to appreciate and model, there must be some absolute standard against which all things can be compared and tested. The possibility of having some knowledge of such a standard is one of the amazing acts of God's mercy. It is the goal of our study in Prolegomena (foundational studies) to establish the basis for knowing what is true about God and about the things he requires of us.

Since the Creator has determined the characteristics of everything outside of himself, truth is the way things are in God's mind. He can be the only absolute gauge for measuring the truth and rightness of ideas or relationships in his universe.

In man's fallen condition, God's truth is not perceived accurately. In his attempt to live in God's world, while denying his moral relationship with it, he will either deny the possibility of knowing truth at all, or he will try to create a substitute, and therefore false, standard for truth. Such an invention will force everything to be interpreted in such a way as to support fallen man's own imagination of what is true and right. But the Bible shows us that there is real truth, and that it is bound to the person of the Creator.

Psalm 25:10 "All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth"
Psalm 117:2 "the truth of the Lord is everlasting"
John 14:6 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life"

Everything God has revealed is true because it is first rooted in his own mind. What he makes known to us is put into a form that we can understand. He made us to be able to know all that we need to know as his children.

In this sense, all the truth we know is analogical: That is, It agrees with, corresponds with, but is not completely identical with what is in the perfect mind of God. There is an "analogy" between what God speaks to his creatures and what God knows infinitely and perfectly.

Deuteronomy 18 shows that it is required of prophets that their message be consistent with everything else God reveals, and agrees with what God actually does or permits. In Acts 17:11 the Bereans are called "more noble" because they searched the Scriptures daily to test what they heard from the Apostle Paul. They tested it against the only objective authority available to them as a standard, the Scriptures.

The possibility of knowing truth rests in the consistency of God's mind. Therefore there can be no real contradictions about anything in our world. If we imagine that contradictions can exist, we violate the possibility of knowing anything! If a thing might both be and not be, at the same time and in the same way, then everything may be considered to be nonsense and unknowable! When we perceive something to be in contradiction with something else, then we have structured our ideas in such a way that they no longer correspond with the way things are in God's mind.

If there is to be help and guidance for ourselves and all those we care about, it must be grounded in the truth of God. To build our lives on a lie, is tragic. It denies the basis for the happiness our Creator intended us to enjoy within the promises of his gracious covenant.

A system of truth should be rooted in the nature of God.
God does not know things in the same way we organize them. We understand things by giving names to individual things and ideas. Then we learn to associate these basic ideas into groups which then earn a group label, or name. This enables us to think in terms of groups of ideas. The structures of our thinking quickly get complicated. The larger ideas we are linking and relating as we think are themselves linked ideas made up of groups of linked ideas.

But in the mind of God there are no isolated ideas that need to be linked by logical association and which may then yield higher order ideas. Systematic thinking is unique to us as creatures. The Creator has a unified absolute mind which we attempt to understand through his revelation. As Creator, he designed us to be able to know exactly what he wants us to know. He used holy men to produce an inspired, objective and infallible record of revelation sufficient to teach us all he intends. Included in that word are rules for studying the word itself. To the degree that we use God's methods consistently, our study will yield ideas consistent with truth as it exists absolutely in the mind of God.

For a study of God's truth to yield benefits to us, it is required that we be spiritually alive through the work of the Savior. In our fallen, spiritually dead condition we will distort and reinterpret what God makes known. No one is able to determine who has been truly regenerated by God's grace. But as a church we are given certain standards which its elders are to use in admitting people to the sacraments. To ensure the blessing of this study it is needful of all students ...

1. that they acknowledge themselves to be sinners in the sight of God, justly deserving his displeasure, without hope save in his sovereign mercy and provision.
   
   
2. that they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Savior of sinners and that they humbly rest in him alone for salvation as offered in the Gospel.
   
   
3. that they present a credible profession such that their lives do not contradict what they say they believe.
   
   
4. that they submit to the authority of Christ as revealed in his Word, and willingly study and submit to that authority as given to his church and in the sacraments and laws of his covenant.

But God expects even more of us when we presume to teach the truths of the Scriptures. Leaders in the home, church and community must be able to communicate the teachings of the Bible accurately and effectively. But even more importantly, they must understand how the Scriptures are the sole ground of all they teach.

Paul wrote about this to two men in the first century of the church. To Titus he said that the teacher must be, "holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict" (Titus 1:9). He wrote to young Timothy saying that all Elders must be "able to teach..." (1 Timothy 3:2).

It is the duty of leaders in the home, in the church, and in the community, that they understand these things to the best of their ability, and that they lead those they are responsible for to appreciate, to the best of their ability, the truths God has made known. This is a hard responsibility. But God also provides his word and sends his Spirit to make us able to teach and lead in a godly manner.

The advantage of having a written confession.
Some say we should have no creed or confession but the Scriptures. This idea may seem to be very noble, but it misunderstands what creeds and confessions are. They are not drafted to be another source of truth. A good written statement of faith is an attempt to spell out the basic teachings of the Bible on different topics. Having a carefully worded creed acts as both a teaching tool and as a set of boundaries to warn us when we drift off into ideas or practices that are contrary to what God has said.

It is naive to think that anyone can study or teach the content of Scripture without developing ideas about topics such as the nature of God, the origin of the Bible, the way of salvation, and other similar concepts. We call these "doctrines" or "teachings."

If the beliefs, or creeds, that govern our understanding are not written down then they exist only in our minds and momentarily spoken words. That makes it hard for our doctrines to be examined against the standard of God's word.

Even a simple translation of Scripture involves some interpretation. When the New Testament used the Hebrew Scriptures, they were translated into the common Greek of the day, not simply quoted in their original language. When we decide how to put an idea into another language, the translator must first understand what it means.

There is biblical precedent for explaining the texts of Scripture beyond simply reading them. In Nehemiah 8:8 Ezra read the Scriptures assisted by helpers: "they read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading." Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:2 "...reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction..." The Bible assumes and commands that the Bible will be interpreted by its teachers. The beliefs, or "creeds," of the interpreters will govern what they teach.

If no interpretation or explanation of Scripture is allowed beyond simply quoting its texts, it would make God's revelation unavailable to most people. Only linguistic scholars could read or understand the Bible in its original languages. No comments could be made about what the Bible says aside from simply reading the Scripture texts. Remember, even the selection of specific texts of the Bible to show what we believe involves a certain amount of interpretation. If formulating creeds was wrong, then our behavior and doctrine could not be examined and corrected by the objective standard of God's revelation. We could not be helped by the advice and encouragement of other believers.

All men have creeds, written or not. If not written, then it is difficult to examine beliefs for agreement with the Bible. Unwritten creeds tend to contribute to confusion and heresy. By setting clear boundaries written creeds and confessions help identify denials of Biblical authority and protect against elevating human ideas to equal standing with the Creator's truth as revealed.

Good biblical statements unify the voice of the church and its teachers. Creeds and confessions should present a careful and sound summary of biblical ideas by which teachings and ideas can be examined.

Officially adopted statements of the church's beliefs are Biblical. In Acts 15:23-29 the Jerusalem council of elders issued decisions that were sent to the churches for correction and instruction. The published statement of the elders and apostles made it possible for believers to communicate accurately the advice of the council.

Heresies arise as a result of our imperfections. Since the earliest days of the church there have been those who have misused the Bible and attached their own meanings to it. For example; Arianism denied the deity of Jesus. This error was corrected and the biblical position explained in the Nicean Creed of 325 AD. This creed explains what the Bible teaches about the nature of man as a finite, changeable creature, and his corruption due to his fall into sin. It confirms that errors will arise unavoidably. Creeds help identify departures from the clear teachings set forth in Scripture.

Good creeds point to the authority of the Bible alone. The first article in the Westminster Confession is titled, "Of the Holy Scriptures." That chapter contains 10 sections (see particularly sections 9 and 10). The confession immediately lays down the Bible as its own foundation.

The genius of the Westminster Confession of Faith:
A good confession is scripturally worded. The Westminster Assembly carefully maintained a cautious reliance upon biblical language and expressions as doctrines were explained.

It forbids all human speculation in stating what is true. The Westminster standards would rather say less about God and our duties than to speculate in areas of less clarity or where faithful, believing, students of the Bible admit a need for continuing study.

The Westminster Confession and its Catechisms cover the fundamentals faithfully and soundly. Speaking from its unique position in history the Westminster standards drew upon the wisdom of the early creeds and councils, the sound understanding of the past work of scholars, previous conflicts in Christ's church, and a good knowledge of the Scriptures themselves as originally given.

We must study both Doctrinally and Devotionally.
Doctrinally: What we believe must honor God for what he really is, has done and has promised. We need to properly understand the principles by which he commands us to live. What we believe as truth must bear an accurate relationship with what exists perfectly in the Creator's mind.

Devotionally: Another goal of theological study is that our lives should conform to what pleases God, so that the blessings of his covenant will be ours. We must think on his blessings and thankfully appreciate God's goodness toward us personally in Christ.

Our dominant goal should be that we might "guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to" us. (2 Timothy 1:14)

Questions for Review and Thought
1. Why are we naturally concerned with knowing what is true?
2. How does the way God knows things differ from the way we know them?
3. What biblical reasons justify men explaining the Scriptures to others?
4. What text in the Book of Acts lays a foundation for church leaders writing statements of faith and practice to guide and help the church?
5. If the Bible is our only way of knowing what is true, then why is it helpful to have a confession or a catechism?
6. What is the danger of a church not having a written creed or confession?
7. What makes the Westminster Confession and Catechisms good statements of faith?
8. Why is it important that every family have and use a copy of the Bible?
9. Why is it helpful for every home to have a copy of the Westminster Standards?

return to the top of this Page