Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Surest Knowledge

I recently read this comment about Scripture from Wayne Grudem:
this God who is omniscient (all-knowing) has absolutely certain knowledge: there can never be any fact that does not already know; there can never be any fact that would prove that something God thinks is actually false. Now it is from this infinite storehouse of certain knowledge that God, Who never lies, has spoken to us in Scripture, in which he has told us many true things about himself, about ourselves, and about the universe that he has made. No fact can ever turn up to contradict the truth spoken by this one who is omniscient.
Thus it is appropriate for us to be more certain about the truths we read in Scripture than about any other knowledge we have. If we are to talk about degrees of certainty of knowledge we have, then the knowledge we attain from Scripture would have the highest degree of certainty: if the word “certain” can be applied to any human knowledge, it can be applied to this knowledge. (Systematic Theology, by Wayne Grudem, 1994 and 2000, Chapter 7, Page 120)
This challenges me! Not because I disagree with what Grudem said, but because I hadn't thought about knowledge and Scripture in those terms. It's one thing to acknowledge: my knowledge is limited; God's knowledge is not limited; my abilities to perceive reality and gain knowledge are limited and imperfect; God already knows all there is to know. It's another, challenging, thing to commit oneself to accepting Scripture as true even if Scripture contradicts what I think I know or believe to be true/right. Do I really believe God knows all there is to know? Do I really believe God is good and a truth-teller? Do I really believe that Scripture is truth God chose to reveal to mankind? Dare I believe that God might actually know some matter (or me!) better – more correctly, more completely – than I?

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