This coming spring our apologetics group will be going through a short but extremely thoughtful book called Faith Is Not Wishing by Greg Koukl. I wanted to highlight some of his chapters here.
The first chapter deals with the concept of faith. Atheists see an inverse relationship between knowledge and faith. They believe the more knowledge of this world that is gained, the less spiritual faith people will have. They see faith as a leap in the dark, a desperate clinging to something when no information is available. It is often seen as wishful thinking. But Koukl points out that biblical faith is very different – it actually comes out of knowledge. It means active trust. He gives an example in the book of Exodus where Moses through the power of God brings forth miracles. In Exodus 14:31, we see the result: “And when Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.” There’s a definite pattern we see in this story–giving the people knowledge of God, in whom they then place their active trust. The key point is that knowledge went before belief. God didn’t ask the Hebrews or Moses for mindless faith, blind leaps, or wishful thinking.
The same is true in the New Testament. In Mark 2 Jesus says to a paralytic that his sins were forgiven. Scribes grumbled about such an audacious claim. So Jesus said, “But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home.” Jesus gave the same lesson that we saw in Exodus. He provided something that can’t be seen (the forgiveness of sins) with evidence that can be seen, in this case a dramatic supernatural healing. Again, the concrete evidence allowed the doubters to know the truth so they could then trust in the forgiveness Jesus could give.
Other places in the New Testament follow the same pattern. Peter’s sermon on Pentecost ends with this statement: “Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him [Jesus] both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” In 1 John the author ends his letter by saying, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Biblical faith isn’t wishing; it’s confidence. It’s not denying reality, but discovering reality. It’s a sense of certainty grounded in evidence that Christianity is true – not just “true for me,” but actually, fully, and completely true. So knowledge comes first, and confidence follows. So we need to gather evidence, which will increase our knowledge and deepen our faith. Today, thanks to the Internet and other sources, it’s easy to gather evidence for the reliability of the Christian faith. Let me know if you’d like some ideas of places to go for further evidence.
