The Sin Factor - 04
Does the Christian have a knowledge advantage?
I remember, as a newly converted Christian (I was a sophomore in college), feeling as if I could see and understand the world in a way I’d never known it in my previous nineteen years. Like the line from John Newton’s song, “I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see.”1
I still drove the same white, AMC Hornet, had the same parents, wore the same eighties style clothes, and I walked the same sidewalks to class between buildings at the University of Wisconsin - Superior campus. Now, however, I was looking for God’s meaning in things. I was measuring and weighing according to what God was showing me from His Word.
Somehow, I was now confident that the world all went together and that God would make it clear to me. Forty years later, I still feel that way, but I’m running out-of-time to get it all figured out. And, honestly, I feel like I’ve only seen the surface scratched.
Some of the delay is due to having learned some things that were not true and I had to unlearn them;2 also, I had refused to learn things because I didn’t want to know them, that is until God broke through my stubbornness;3 too, my sinful slothfulness and desire for ease wasted a lot of time;4 finally, God has taken to disciplining me for disobedience and that has muddled my mind on occasion.5
All this to say, believers do not see all things thoroughly, or clearly, or without impairment caused by sin. It is not just the unbeliever that gets blinded to knowledge and truth. The believer can be as well.
So what does it matter if you are a believer or an unbeliever when it comes to learning what is true and what is not true? Does a Christian have a knowledge advantage or doesn’t he? If both sin, and both can be self-deceived, then does either one come out ahead?
Our commonality with unbelievers is our humanity and our sin. The difference is God’s grace in regeneration. The unbeliever has not the Spirit of God to guide him into all truth. The believer does have God’s Spirit. Also, the Spirit wars inside of the Christian. He wars against the believer’s sin and self-will (a.k.a. autonomy). And the Spirit won’t let up. Whereas, the unbeliever has not the Spirit but remains fully autonomous with self-designed, yellow-tinted sunglasses cemented to his face. He will never take them off, except by God’s grace of regeneration.
So if the Christian and Non-Christian are playing tennis, then: “Favor McEnroe!”6 or better I say, “Advantage Christian.” However, you want to say it, it is in fact, “game-set-and match” for the Christian, because he is playing by the rules while the Non-Christian refuses to. In a real sense, the Non-Christian isn’t even playing the same game of life as the Christian.
Consider another game. A bunch of kids run outside for recess and decide to play a game of four square. Johnny is one of them. When Johnny enters the square, he starts to call out rules that no one has heard of before. He claims, “When the ball hits the line it is out!” He urges, “You can hit the ball twice, I tell you, with any part of your body, as long as it doesn’t hit the ground!” And on and on.
The others tell him, “That is not the way it goes.” But Johnny insists on playing by his rules. What’s worse, there becomes a sneaking suspicion that Johnny is simply making up the rules as he goes along to support his poor play. He is not at all playing the game as it is meant to be played, but he is pretending like he is in the right. At some point, if they go along with Johnny’s rules, the other children will come to realize they are no longer playing four-square at all.
In the same way, Christians must stand their ground for interpreting knowledge and truth according to what God says it is. They mustn’t allow the stubbornly defiant Non-believing Johnny’s of the world to go on pretending their interpretations are the correct ones.
Remember, sinful man is forever wanting things his way. He wants to decide. He will determine what is right or wrong for himself, so he thinks. He views everything from his inner man’s constitution. And so everything gets tainted. His sunglasses help him see all things as jaundice.7 The bottom line is that the Non-believer is determined to see the facts the way they will support his poor play.
Cornelius Van Til writes of the Non-Christian’s unrelenting suppression of truth:
“When working in the laboratory as scientists, men act as though they are not dealing with materials that belong to God. They are like a thief who, entering into your home and exploring all kinds of things within it, claims that the question of ownership of the house is of no concern to him. They are like those who go hunting in a woods clearly marked ‘No Gunning,’ without permission from the owner.”8
So the unbeliever is at a great disadvantage to the Christian because of his commitment to autonomy.9
Newton, John, “Amazing Grace.” 1772.
Christian pacifism was one such thing. Another was Premillennialism. There were other false teachings, as well as there could be some going on in me right now.
Here I would have to say that I wrestled against 1) Paul’s teaching on head coverings, 2) keeping the Lord’s Day due to respect for the fourth command, 3) the validity of Old Testament civil laws being applicable as laws for “modern” magistrates, and 4) weekly Lord’s Supper observance. I agree with all four, though I still feel there is tension regarding the third - at least some challenging questions as to where lines get drawn. (I also get it that, based upon my conclusions, you might conclude I still have gotten things wrong and still have wrestling to do. That is OK. The feeling would be mutual, with no offense intended.)
I’ve probably watched more, television and movies, than the average pastor. Though I do find them relaxing and stimulating. I read a lot and rarely fiction. Perhaps that turns my ship upright?!
I will keep this list private. Those who know me best could probably fill-in some blanks.
You probably won't get the reference. I watched tennis as a young man when John McEnroe went head-to-head with Bjorn Borg. What a match those two played! An advantage or “favor” means you have won the point in a game that was tied at 40-40. Now you are in the best position to win, but you must score the next point. However, having the advantage does not win you the game unless you score the next point, but it is going in your favor.
yellow
Greg L. Bahnsen, Van Til’s Apologetic: Readings & Analysis (New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 1998), 456-457.
Autonomy is from the Greek. Autos = Self; Nomos = Law. Thus to be autonomous is to be self-governed or to determine your own law.