"How does the act of thinking relate to the rise of faith?" That is one of the primary questions Piper seeks to address in Chapter 4 of "Think". Let us look at Matthew 16:1-4.
The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' And in the morning, 'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." So he left them and departed.
Here Jesus affirms the logical capacities of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They use their minds well to draw the logical conclusions from their observation of the sky. Jesus seems to be approving of this empirical use of their minds, and this acknowledgement that they have working minds is actually the grounds for the indictment of the second half of the passage. In other words, "You obviously have the ability to interpret, and yet you cannot see who I am. You reject me."
That they "cannot" interpret the signs of the times does not mean that they do not have the sensory and rational capacities necessary. So what then is the nature of this "cannot"? Answering this question should help us understand how faith and reason are connected.
The answer to why the Pharisees and Sadducees "cannot" intepret the signs of the times is seen in the last verse: An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign... The primary reason they cannot interpret the signs of the times is that they are evil and adulterous. Piper zooms his lens in on how adultery affects thinking.
Why is this generation called adulterous? We can look at our salvation in God from many different angles, all of them glorious beyond adequate description; one way to look at it is corporately. We are united to a Body, the Church, and we are the Bride of Christ. Christ came and died to purchase and purify for himself, not just individuals, but a collective people, a bride. When Jesus came onto the scene, he was largely rejected by the Israelites, his people, his bride. And worst of all, they were led astray by their leaders, who gave themselves to other lesser lovers: praise of men (Matthew 6:5), money (Luke 16:14), and self (Luke 18:9). They rejected Christ as their husband and committed spiritual adultery. Christ is after the heart of his bride, and his bride had - as she still often does - given her heart to nearly everything else.
We see this evil and adulterous generation asking for a sign. "They want to give the impression that there is not enough evidence that Jesus is the Messiah and so they are justified in not receiving him as their bridegroom. But, in fact, the problem is that they don't want him as their bridegroom. They are dominated by a spirit of adultery. They prefer other sources of satisfaction."
When they really want to reason correctly, such as when they need to know the weather to survive a sea journey, they are able to do so with a great clarity of mind. But in dealing with Jesus, they miss him completely - not because they lack rationality, but because their evil and adulterous hearts poison their rationality, pulling them to other things.
Paul also saw very clearly the way that sin of the heart disorders thinking in the mind. Nowhere is the root cause of our irrationality seen more clearly than in Ephesians 4:18, which states, They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. Apart from Christ my mind is "hardened" (2 Corinthians 3:14) and "depraved" (1 Timothy 6:5), and my thinking is "futile", "darkened", and "foolish"(Romans 1:18). This happens because by my unrighteousness I suppress the truth (Romans 1:18). This seems to be a good general diagnosis of the atheist's position, but I see this suppression of truth in my own life every time I sin. The truth is always this - that God is better than whatever I believe any particular sin will give me. Oh, that I would cling to Christ's supremacy in all things! Piper concludes, "The corruption of our hearts is the deepest root of our irrationality."
We seem to have backed ourselves into a corner. We know that we have fallen hearts that necessarily cloud the judgment of our minds. So does thinking have any role to play in coming to faith? The Bible answers affirmatively. In Paul's efforts to convert people to Christ, he is often said to "reason" with them (Acts 17:2, 4, 17; 18:4, 19; 19:8, 9; 20:7, 9; 24:25). Paul also prefers five understandable words to ten thousand unintelligible words in a tongue (1Corinthians 14:19). Paul obviously believes that the Gospel needs to be understood, and when God captures a man, he also necessarily captures his mind.
At this point in the chapter, Piper revisits the theme of his book and recalls one of the central verses. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. (2 Timothy 2:7) With this verse there are two pitfalls. We might focus solely on man's role of thinking in the first half of the verse, or we might fall into intellectual laziness in the belief that God is going to magically give us any understanding we need. Let us avoid these pitfalls and seek a right understanding of this verse.
There is, because of the poisonous effect of our evil hearts on our thinking, a necessary supernatural work of God in helping us understand any truth. We know from the verse that God does indeed perform this work of understanding, though. And the word "for" in the middle of the verse connects and makes this supernatural work of enlightenment the grounds of my thinking. There is an organic connection between my thinking and God giving understanding, but that in no way minimizes the fact that any understanding I have is still a glorious gift of God. It is like farming in a way. Both God and I must do something for my garden to grow. I work at it, but I do it trusting God to bring the rain, so when it comes, I know it is a gift. (And even my health and energy to do the work were a gift of God. Soli Deo gloria!)
To tie things together and more directly address the intersection of reason and the rise of faith, we will conclude with the parable about the four different soils in Matthew 13:3-9. There are three scenarios where the seed (or the Word) proves fruitless in the soil (or my life), and there is one scenario where it sticks and bears fruit. The first and last situations provide a very relevant contrast, and Jesus interprets the parable later in the chapter:
When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. (Matthew 13:19)
This is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty. (Matthew 13:23)
The difference between these two soils is the understanding. Our understanding is crucial to our conversion and fruit-bearing. Romans 10:17 tells us that, "faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." Therefore, there must be hearing, but as the parable illustrates, hearing without understanding will not work.
Let me try to summarize: Our evil hearts darken the understanding of our minds. Nevertheless, understanding - a work of the mind - must occur for God's word to take root in my life and bear fruit. Understanding is a gift of God, but it is the sort of gift that is given when we think over the things he has told us. Practically, this presses me to run to the Bible to let its truths straighten out the crooked places of my mind, and it keeps me on my knees, knowing I need the Spirit's help to kill the Christ-belittling tendencies of my heart that would keep me from letting the Bible do its transformative work.
No comments:
Post a Comment