“For who knows the thoughts of a person except the spirit of the person who is in him? So no one can understand the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things given to us by God. And we give this, not by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:11-13).
Rationalism argues that we should reject (or at least de-emphasize) all sources of knowledge except human reason. If knowing something requires the operation of something other than human reason, then that thing should not be classified as “knowledge”. In particular, “belief” is distinguished from “knowledge”. If God exists, we cannot “know” that He exists or what His nature is; We can only “believe.” . . And hope for the best.
It is true that if we had nothing but work we would not know much about God. Paul emphasizes that God’s existence and his power can be inferred from the world around us: “For his invisible qualities, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, in things that have been made” (Romans 1:20). But if reason had no external help, the existence and power of God would be as far as we could go. We would have no way of knowing what God’s disposition is or what His will for us would be.
But God has revealed Himself so that we can know more about Him. (Go back and consider 1 Corinthians 2:11-13.) And don’t forget: God’s revelation of himself culminates in Jesus Christ. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory…No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:14, 18).
Do you see the dilemma of rationalism? It seeks to reject any knowledge that comes from revelation, yet there are many rationalists who still want to believe in some kind of God. But we can’t have it both ways. If we deny the possibility of God revealing himself, we must become accustomed to the idea that there is no God. The only God that the human intellect can believe in without help is a God who is little more than a question mark. In rationalism there is no place for a God who can save us.
“The failure of rationalism is that it tries to find a place for God in its picture of the world” (William Ralph Inge).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
