A Christian Theory of Knowledge
In this session we're considering the following questions
What is knowledge?
Where does knowledge come from?
What is knowledge for?
Can we have knowledge, without God?
How is it possible to know anything at all?
Let's begin by defining our terms:
Knowledge: a belief that you hold, that is true, and that you have a good reason for believing.
Alvin Plantinga's definition of knowledge, which I like, is "warranted, true belief." We'd better break this down and get into more detail.
Let's start with...
Warrant: a good reason for believing something.
For a belief to count as knowledge, you must have a good reason for believing it. HOw do you know if you have a good reason?
To paraphrase Plantinga, he says that warrant obtains when truth-seeking faculties are functioning properly in a propitious environment.*
Plantinga says that warrant requires
Cognitive faculties functioning properly
In a cognitive environment sufficiently similar to that for which the faculties were designed
According to a design plan aimed at the production of true beliefs.
He also adds, When there is a high statistical probability of such beliefs being true.
Now that we understand warrant, let's move on to…
True: a quality that a proposition has when it meets certain conditions.
Those conditions are
It is coherent (no contradiction)
It corresponds to reality, or the way things actually are, and
It is communicable in comprehensive language.
This is my own stipulative definition, and I think it works. (For more on this, check out my article, "The Very Concept of Truth In Impossible Without God.").
For something to count as knowledge, then, it must be warranted, and it must be true, and of course it must be a belief. So now let's define...
Belief: A proposition (or idea) that you hold to be true.
Mental assent is required. This is pretty obvious stuff. You don't know something if you don't believe it.
So we've talked about what it means to know. But our question at hand is, What can we know for certain.
So we'd better talk about what that means.
Certain:
It can mean, really convinced. On the other hand, it can mean that one cannot be wrong about the thing believed (or known).**
While both definitions might apply at different times and in different ways, the latter is needed for a starting point for knowledge. At the very least, we need to have a belief about which we cannot be mistaken. If not, then everything we believe will be ultimately uncertain. This is because there could be some fact that contradicts everything we think we know. However, if we have a single, certain starting point about which we cannot be wrong, then we can work out from there and, based on what is entailed by that starting point, we can come to other certain and sure knowledge. Some of this knowledge will give us varying degrees of "certainty" (I'm using it now more in the "really, really convinced" sense).
[Side note: As we'll see below, that certain starting point, about which we cannot be mistaken, has to be God's own speech—the knowledge that He has revealed to us.]
So knowledge is warranted, true belief, and certainty can only come from a sure and unshakable starting point.***
Now let's talk about...
Where do our beliefs come from?
Remember, warrant is a condition of our truth-seeking faculties operating the way they were designed, in a propitious environment.
Our truth-seeking faculties are what we use to produce our beliefs.
We have three main truth-seeking faculties:
Reason
The Five Senses
Feelings/intuition
There are three ways God reveals truth to us...
...and each one corresponds to one of our truth-seeking faculties.**** These three "channels" of God's communication are:
Divine Law.
This is accessed through reason. We can use a priori reasoning to come to true knowledge. An example of this would be the Laws of Logic. John Frame says that the epitome of this kind of revelation is Scripture itself. Some relevant Bible passages related to the revelation of Divine Law would be:
2 Timothy 3:16-17, which says that all Scripture is God breathed
Romans 2:15, which says that the "work of the law" is "written on their hearts," indicating the revelation of moral law.
John 1:1-18, which introduces Jesus, the Logos, as the light of men, illuminating minds and revealing knowledge (implied).
The Natural World.
This is accessed through our five senses. An example of this would be the way that we investigate nature through scientific study. Some relevant passages are:
Psalm 19, which says that the heavens declare the glory of God.
Psalm 111, which says that God has caused his works to be remembered; they are studied by all who delight in Him, indicating that we can also study history to gain knowledge from God.
Proverbs 6:6-8, which instructs us to "Go to the ant," and there are various other passages in Proverbs and elsewhere which indicate that true principles are revealed via the animal kingdom.
The Human Self—Ourselves.
This "channel" of God's revelation is associated with our feelings and intuition (none of the faculties should be seen as exclusively connected only to one of the ways God reveals knowledge; there is plenty of overlap). As an example, how do you know the future will be like the past, or that your wife loves you? You can't test these hypotheses physically or determine them through a priori reasoning. But you can "know" them anyway; you may intuit them. Some relevant Scriptures would be:
Genesis 1:27, 2:7, which says that man is made in the image of God
Ecclesiastes 3:11, which teaches that God has set eternity in our hearts
Romans 1, which indicts sinful humanity based on the fact that knowledge has been revealed in the creation—and are we not part of that creation?
God speaks through the three "channels" of Divine Law, the Natural World, and the Human Self, and we receive God's speech through our three truth-seeking faculties, which produce beliefs. Insofar as we have received and interpreted God's speech (or "revelation," as the theologians say) correctly, we will produce true beliefs.†
So then, if our beliefs are produced by faculties that God has given us, receiving truth that He reveals through those three channels, and God does everything for a good reason, then there must be a purpose for us to have knowledge.
Let's now ask...
What is Knowledge FOR?
As I see it, there are three purposes God has for our knowing:
To know God.
God wants us to know truth, so we may know Him. God wants to be known by His people.
Look at the following two passages:
1 John 5:13, which says, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." And what is eternal life? It is to know God (John 17:3).
John 20:31 - but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Scripture is the record of God's speech and actions. And through those actions, God reveals his attributes to us. Here are three examples.
Genesis 22:14: after God provided Abraham a sacrifice, he knew God was Yahweh Yireh, the Lord who provides.
Judges 6:24; Gideon knew that "The Lord is Peace," after he revealed Himself.
1 Sam 17:45: David conquered Goliath believing the Lord is Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of Armies.
To love God
To know God, in the way God intends is to love God. Loving God is about the mind but also about the heart and soul (Luke 10:27). Look at how the Psalmist's knowledge leads him to greater love of God in Psalm 19. If you read that passage, you will see how he begins with observing the heavens, and ends by praising God's law and begging to be purified from sin. His knowledge has increased His love for God. But he also wants to live for God, which is bound up with loving Him. And this is the third purpose of God for our knowledge:
To live for God
True and certain knowledge comes from God's revelation. Therefore being in right relationship with God is essential for knowledge.
Knowledge of God and righteous living are connected
Scripture says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). Scripture also says that the fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil (Proverbs 8:13) and associated with wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7).
To know God, it is necessary to have the right attitude toward Him—one of reverential worship and fear. And that attitude will lead a person to living in a wise way, valuing God's instructions and hating evil.
Knowing God is inseparable from following His guidance.
As another example, in Isaiah 30:20-21 God says that when we see our teacher, we will hear his guiding voice.
The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression, but your Teacher will not hide any longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher, and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”††
As followers of Jesus, we have seen our Teacher, the Lord Jesus Himself, and He guides us by the Holy Spirit. Knowledge leads to living for God, as God intended.
So we can answer the question of knowledge as Christians who believe in God. However, we know ours isn't the only worldview out there. So…
What about alternative positions?
Can we answer the question of knowledge without God?
John Frame explains††† that there are three tendencies of humanity when we try to explain how knowledge it possible without God. Each one emphasizes one of the truth-seeking faculties we discussed above, to the neglect of the other two. And because those faculties are designed to connect up with the three "channels" of God's communication, these three tendencies (which I will define in one second), because they exclude God, all fall short.
The three tendencies are...
The first alternative: Rationalism
Rationalism says that real knowledge comes from accessing absolute principles through a priori reasoning. Rationalism neglects the five senses (too deceptive) and feelings (too fickle). Without God, Rationalism has no way to integrate the three faculties. After all, without the Designer, why would we think that the faculties are designed to work together, rather than in competition to one another.
The Problem with Rationalism:
There is much knowledge we can gain through our senses and intuition, and it's not good to neglect these.
Also, why would we think laws of logic and mathematics are real, without God? Rationalism relies on the reality of the laws of logic and the principles of mathematics, but those are expressions of God's Divine Law, rooted in the mind of God Himself. Rationalism, excluding God, cannot think of them this way, and lacks a way to account for their reality at all.
The second alternative: Empiricism
Empiricism says real knowledge comes through our five senses; we should believe what we can see and what we can test. Scientism, the belief that truth only comes through science, is related. Empiricism neglects reason and intuition. After all, without the Designer, why would we think that the faculties are designed to work together, rather than in competition to one another?
The Problem with Empiricism:
There is much knowledge we can gain through our reason and intuition, and it's not good to neglect these. After all, our senses are often mistaken (e.g. by optical illusions, etc.) and we need our reason and intuition to help us make sense of our sense data.
Also, most empiricists believe we live in a random, unguided universe. However, scientific inquiry requires uniformity in nature and the possibility of inductive reasoning. But while those are expected in a cosmos made by God, they have nothing to do with a random universe of chance!
The third alternative: Subjectivism
Subjectivism says there is no objective truth "out there," only what is true for oneself. Knowledge is radically subjective. Subjectivism is represented by the call to "follow your heart" and the expression that "Whatever satisfies your soul is truth" (I think that was Walt Whitman). Subjectivism prioritizes intuition and feelings, to the neglect of reason and the five senses. After all, without the Designer, why would we think… you get the idea.
The Problem with Subjectivism:
There is much knowledge we can gain through our reason and five senses, and it's not good to neglect these. After all, our feelings are often flawed and fickle.
Furthermore, the belief that we cannot know truth outside ourselves is itself a belief about the world beyond ourselves—it says that both we and everyone else out there can't know external truth! Subjectivism is self-defeating.
And finally, without God, why think that intuition is a reliable source of truth? If we are the products of unguided processes (which, again is a belief about truth out there, but I digress), then there's no reason to think those processes produced a self capable of producing true beliefs (or even that there is a real self there at all, come to think of it). If evolution is true, then the self is just a fancy monkey. And who would trust the intuition of a Monkey?
Without God we are left with radical epistemological uncertainty.
Each of the above alternatives falls flat because it tries to exclude God. Therefore none can integrate the three faculties or account for them or the "channels" through which knowledge is revealed to them.
With God, however, we do have a basis for knowing.
If God is real (and He is), we have a good reason for believing in reason, senses and intuition/emotions. That reason: because God has given us all three, and He speaks through channels that correspond to each one.
Because God is the designer, we have a good reason for believing all three were designed to seek truth, and we may view the three as part of that design plan.
Now we can say that we may have certainty in our knowledge. God's creation and revelation is the starting point, about which we cannot be mistaken, upon which we can have real knowledge..
If God has not spoken, then we couldn't be certain about anything. However, because God has spoken, then that speech, and all that is entailed by it, can give us certain knowledge.
Conclusion:
God's revelation unifies the different ways we know, and no godless alternative cuts the mustard. Knowledge has a purpose, in order to make us know, love and live for God—through Jesus Christ His Son. God has spoken through the world, his law, and in ourselves, and we receive that revelation through our truth seeking faculties. Because of God, we can have warranted, true belief. We can know things. Lots of things. True things. For certain.
We can know, because God has spoken.
* Review: Warrant: The Current Debate by Alvin Plantinga," Apologetics315, accessed 15 November, 2021, https://apologetics315.com/2013/04/review-warrant-the-current-debate-by-alvin-plantinga.
** This is how Dr. Owen Anderson defined it in the ThinkSquad Facebook group recently. Alternatively, the idea that certainty just means being really convinced of something has been espoused by avowed atheist Ken Leonard, as observed by the author on Facebook.
*** Francis Schaeffer talked about this starting point as a "reference point" for understanding everything. I suggest you go read as much Francis Schaeffer as you can.
**** Francis Schaeffer talked about this starting point as a "reference point" for understanding everything. I suggest you go read as much Francis Schaeffer as you can.
† "Propitious environment" doesn't require anything too fancy—only that it be adequately similar to the environment in which the faculties were designed to function. We were created for this world; if you're not under the influence of drugs or otherwise in a state, condition or situation that would impede normal successful belief production, you're probably in a sufficiently-propitious environment
†† I'm indebted here to Keathley III, J. Hampton, in his article, "Names of God" on Bible.org, accessed 15 November, 2021, at https://bible.org/article/names-god.
††† Frame, "Epistemological Perspectives and Evangelical Apologetics."
Listen to the ThinkPod: https://anchor.fm/the-think-podcast
Watch on YouTube: http://youtube.com/thethinkinstitute
If this blessed you, consider supporting us: https://thethink.institute/partner
Facebook: http://facebook.com/thethinkinstitute
Twitter: http://twitter.com/thinkinst
Mewe: http://mewe.com/i/thinkinstitute
Gab: http://gab.com/thinkinstitute
Minds: https://www.minds.com/thinkinstitute/
Catechize your kids: http://thethink.institute/catakids.
Book Joel Settecase to speak: https://thethink.institute/booking
Sign up for the email newsletter: http://thethink.institute/think-updates
Join a course: http://thethink.institute/hammerandanvil
Music Credits:
Hard Metal Intro by WinnieTheMoog
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6598-hard-metal-intro
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Synthwave Intro 03 by TaigaSoundProd
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7299-synthwave-intro-03
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Stranger Synths #1 by Musikhalde
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6390-stranger-synths-1
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license