Always Ready: Part 4 & 5: The Mind Rooted in Christ & Revelation as the Foundation of Knowledge

I'll let you see the graphics that Anthony did. I remember we were looking at building the kingdom like building a house, and apologetics is kind of the foundation, and especially presuppositional apologetics.

What Apologetics Means and Why Presuppositionalism Matters

Apologetics, simply defense of the faith. Presuppositional apologetics is the defense of the faith with certain truths being presupposed and non-negotiable. The book Always Ready is an explanation and application of the presuppositional apologetic method.

We get the word apologetics even from 1 Peter 3 .15, as you already know, to make a defense is the word apologia from where we get the word apologetics. We're in section one of the book of Always Ready.

Remember, it's divided into, I think it's five sections. The Lordship of Christ in the Realm of Knowledge, that's the first section. We've already looked at chapter one, the robbery of neutrality, chapter two, the immorality of neutrality, and three, the nature of unbelieving thought.

Those are the first three chapters. That's what we've looked at so far. Today, we're gonna start, we'll do chapter four and hopefully chapter five. I'm gonna try to get through two chapters tonight. Notice there is somewhat of a switch.

The first three chapters are talking about the nature of this, the myth of neutrality and how it's impossible, not only impossible, but it's immoral. And then we looked at the nature of unbelieving thought.

How does somebody get there and what are the consequences? Starting with chapter four, we see the mind of the new man rooted in Christ. So we're looking at the other side of the coin now. We've looked at what unbelieving thought is.

Now we're gonna look at the mind of the new man rooted in Christ. And then if we get to chapter five, revelation as the foundation of knowledge. So chapter four, the mind of the new man rooted in Christ.

This is how Bonson opens. Remember when you see the gold lettering in italics, that's quotations directly from the book. And if the white italics are from scripture and the regular stuff, that's mine.

The believer is directed to avoid philosophy, which is rooted in worldly humanistic and non-Christian presuppositions. And we've studied Colossians two in the first three chapters extensively. Instead, he is called to be rooted in Christ and established in faith.

His presuppositions must be the precepts and doctrine of Christ, not the feudal traditions of men. Notice instead, and rather, okay? This precludes the claim of neutrality and prohibits seeking after it.

His opening paragraph in this section is kind of a summary, if you will, of the previous three chapters. Neutrality is in actuality veiled agnosticism or unbelief, a failure to walk in Christ, an obscuring of Christian commitment and distinctives of suppression of the truth, Romans 1, 21 and 25.

All right? And these are things that we've already covered in the first three chapters. When one becomes a Christian, his faith has not been generated by the thought patterns of worldly wisdom. Now, for us who hold to the Reformed doctrines, this should be a no-brainer.

How are we saved? We know it. We are saved by grace through faith alone, all right? We didn't study our way into it. We didn't come up with a good idea. We didn't sleep on the scriptures, and by osmosis, it sunk through, all right?

But we know that it was not through patterns of worldly wisdom that we came into salvation. The world in its wisdom knows not God and considers the word of the cross to be foolish. We've seen that apart, we know that apart from revelation, we would never come to Christ.

It's not a decision we would come up using our own intellect. Therefore, if one keeps the perspective of the world, then he shall never see the wisdom of God for what it really is. Thereby, we will never be in Christ Jesus who is made unto believers wisdom from God.

Now, again, this is just basic Reformed soteriology, not a surprise for any of us. In other words, you did not come to Christ through the wisdom of men. In other words, your own intellect, but by faith.

When one becomes a Christian, his faith stands not in the wisdom of men, but in the powerful demonstration of the spirit. We understand that the Holy Spirit regenerates our heart, brings the word to us, and that is how we, with the gift of faith, we repent.

Moreover, what the Holy Spirit causes all believers to say is Jesus is Lord. And we know that only the Holy Spirit can cause one to proclaim that truth from the heart and mean it. In other words, to become a Christian, one submits to the Lordship of Christ.

He renounces autonomy and comes under the authority of God's Son. The way this is worded is important. One submits to the Lordship of Christ. Romans 10, 9 and 10, we know these words, these verses very well.

That if you confess with your mouth, what do you confess? Jesus is Lord, all right? And believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. But with the heart, the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

As Lord over the believer, Christ requires that the Christian love him with every faculty he possesses, including his mind, Matthew 22, 37. Every thought must be brought captive to obedience of Christ, 2 Corinthians 10, 5.

All right, so you're following this now. Remember, we're building. And I love, of course, Bonson's logic, and even as he builds, working up to his thoughts, including his mind. That's one of the big sticking areas.

It's amazing how many Christians will say, oh yeah, I believe in the Lordship of Christ, but then they put certain thoughts aside and they go back into the world and for certain aspects of life. The scripture tells us that we are to walk in Christ in the same manner we came to him, which is by faith.

The Lordship of Christ over the believer is comprehensive, including his epistemic lordship. In other words, his authority in the area of thought and knowledge. That too comes under the Lordship of Christ.

That's simply epistemic, meaning the authority, the area of thought and knowledge. Okay, that's the essence of what it means to walk in Christ in the same manner in which we received him. Hereby, you will be rooted in him, and those words are important.

Keep an ear out for rooted in him. Rather than rooted in the apostate presuppositions of worldly philosophy, and we shall be able to behold the steadfastness of your faith, Colossians 2 .5. Such firm presuppositional faith in Christ will resist the secular world's demand for neutrality and reject the unbelievers' standards of knowledge and truth in favor of the authority of Christ's word.

Notice, we will resist the secular world's demand for neutrality. You've already seen in the first couple chapters that neutrality is a myth. It robs you and brings you into vain thoughts, and Bonson made the compelling case that it's not only that, but it's immoral for the Christian in favor of the authority of Christ's word.

Notice, there's the antithesis, and you see it constant, and that's what he's using as he builds his case. Colossians 2 .7, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him and establishing your faith just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude.

The Greek word that's rooted in that verse is very interesting because the verb tense, it's one of those interesting Greek verb tenses that indicates an action that has occurred in the past but continues into the present, which is exactly what Paul is trying to say in verse six.

Something that occurred in the past but continues into the present. The principles which apply to the Christian's walk, inclusive of his thought, are the same which apply to his previous reception of Christ at conversion.

In other words, notice how Bonson is developing this. What brought you into faith is the same thing you are supposed to walk in by faith throughout your Christian life, inclusive of your thought. Therefore, the new man, the believer with a renewed mind that has been taught by Christ, is no more to walk in the intellectual vanity and darkness which characterizes the unbelieving world.

And we've read Ephesians 4, 17 to 24 numerous times in the first three lessons, all right? Understanding that what is vanity is emptiness. Emptiness, darkness, that's the life we had prior to Christ illuminating our hearts.

The Christian has new commitments, new presuppositions, a new Lord, a new direction and goal. He is a new man. Now again, notice none of this is new. I mean, if you've been a Christian for any length of time, this is not earth-shattering news.

We've seen all of these verses before, but not necessarily always in the apologetic sense. Dr. Cornelius Van Til, in his book, A Christian Theory of Knowledge, says this. It is Christ as God who speaks in the Bible.

Therefore, the Bible does not appeal to human reason as ultimate in order to justify what it says. It comes to the human being with absolute authority. Notice what he says. The Bible does not appeal to human reason as ultimate in order to justify, right?

What is our ultimate authority? It is the Bible. Its claim is that human reason must itself be taken in the sense in which the scriptures take it, namely, as created by God, and as therefore properly subject to the authority of God.

Notice, and this is something important too, presuppositional method of apologetics does not say that human reasoning, the ability to use your mind, is not proper. It just, everything has to come under the authority of Christ.

There are certain presuppositions before we begin to use the gifts of intellect that God has given to us, all right? There's nothing wrong with being intellectual, pursuing the knowledge of this world, all right?

The two systems, and this is what the big point is, there's two systems, that of the non-Christian and that of the Christian, and they differ because of the fact that their basic assumptions or presuppositions differ.

There's where the difference comes. On the non-Christian basis, man is assumed to be the final reference point in prediction. The reformed method begins from above, okay? And that's all from that quotation from Cornelius Van Til.

It would presuppose God, but in presupposing God, it cannot place itself at any point on a neutral basis with the non-Christian. Believers themselves have not chosen the Christian position because they were wiser than the others, all right?

This is an important point. What they have, they have by grace alone. Whoops, whoops. What they have, they have by grace alone, but this fact does not mean that they must accept the problematics of fallen man as right or even as probable or possible right.

For the essence of the idea of scripture is that it alone is this criterion of truth. And that's how Bonson ends that first chapter, but actually the fourth chapter. Questions on the difference between the non-believer and his thinking and the believer and his thinking.

Remember, this is the nature of unbelieving thought. That's his point. Remember, what Bonson has taken is very gradually, if you've read through the book, you realize that he's spending a lot of time laying the foundation before he gets into even how the presuppositional method works.

Any questions on this so far? What I like about this book too is that the chapters are very small and very digestible in a very short period of time. No, we good? All right, then we'll go on to, I'll let you see the graphic again.

Thank you, Anthony. Something, isn't it? I wish I could do that. All right, chapter five is revelation as the foundation of knowledge. All right, and this is the opening paragraph to the chapter five of the book.

Revelation as the Foundation of Knowledge

The new man in Christ has new presuppositions and a new Lord over his thoughts. Rather than striving for intellectual neutrality, he is rooted in him. Notice, new presuppositions, he's rooted in him. There's that word rooted again, all right.

By the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit under the supreme authority of Jesus Christ, not according to the thought patterns of worldly wisdom, that is the Christian presupposes the truthful word of God as his standard of truth and direction, okay.

That's the opening paragraph. I liked the way he does this. He sums up what the previous chapter was as he leads into the new. Proverbs 22, verses 17 to 19. Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise and apply your mind to my knowledge.

For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you that they may be ready on your lips so that you may trust in the Lord. I have taught you today, even you. It is characteristic of philosophers today that they either deny that there is absolute truth or they deny that one can be certain of knowing the truth.

So it's either not there or it's unreachable, all right. It's either there or it's unreachable. Can you imagine? Well, I'll wait, I'll wait. But the scriptures teach the opposite. It's not only possible to know the truth, but that the truth is accessible, especially to the Christian.

And so look at the next two verses. We looked at Proverbs 22, 17 to 19. Have I not written to you excellent things of counsels and knowledge to make you know the certainty of the words of truth? There the scripture comes flat out and is in complete opposition to what the philosophers of the day will say.

We can know the certainty of the words of truth that you may correctly answer him who sent you. But there is a proviso to knowing the truth, all right. Look again at verse 17. Incline your ear to hear the words of the wise, apply your mind to what?

My knowledge. It always goes back to the word of the Lord. You have to start with the scriptures, the knowledge of God, his knowledge, his wisdom as the source, the foundation. That's one of our basic presuppositions.

God's knowledge is primary and whatever man is to know can only be based upon a reception of what God has originally and ultimately known. Psalm 36, nine, for with you is the fountain of life and your light we see light.

Thus Augustine correctly said, I believe in order to understand. I believe in order to understand. Understanding and knowledge of the truth are the promised results when man makes God's word reflecting God's primary knowledge, his presuppositional starting point for all thinking.

Proverbs 5, one, my son give attention to my wisdom. Notice again, my wisdom. Incline your ear to what? My understanding. It's not just general knowledge, general wisdom, but it's the wisdom of God and his understanding.

Proverbs two, that what? That you may observe discretion and your lips may reserve knowledge. So to make God's word your presupposition, your standard, your instructor and your guide, however calls for renouncing intellectual self-sufficiency.

But isn't that exactly what our society keeps putting forth? Man is the master of his own destiny. Captain, oh my captain, right? The attitude that you are autonomous, able to attain unto general knowledge independent of God's direction and standards.

A man who pursues neutrality in his thought does not recognize man's complete dependence upon God's knowledge for his understanding of the world. Isn't this what we come across all the time? If you're ever dealing with an agnostic, atheist, whatever they want to call themselves, that they, what are they, first thing they do?

Let's put the Bible aside. Don't recognize the authority of the Bible. Such men give the impression often that they are Christians only because they as superior intellects have figured out or verified to a larger significant degree the teachings of scripture.

So you have people who would come and say, yes, I'm a Christian, right? But then what do they want to do? They want to put the Bible aside and they use their own intellect. Instead of beginning with God's sure word as foundational to their studies, they would have us think that they began with intellectual self-sufficiency and using this as their starting point, work up to a rational acceptance of scripture.

And you wonder why we have so many different thoughts and different heresies in the church. That's exactly why. Now, it is possible for a Christian to adopt this approach, but it's inconsistent with their profession of faith.

And that's one of the points that Ponson makes in the book. There are some probably truly genuine Christians who take this approach, but what you have to do if you're going to deal with them is understand, show them that it's absolutely inconsistent with what their profession of faith is by going through and showing, if you're a Christian, you have what?

You can only be a Christian if Jesus is Lord. And if he's not, then salvation is in doubt. All knowledge begins with God, and thus we who wish to have knowledge must presuppose God's word and renounce intellectual autonomy.

1 Samuel 2 .3, talk no more proudly. Let not arrogance come from your mouth for Jehovah is a God of knowledge. That's the consistent message of scripture. That's one verse, but it's the consistent message of scripture.

Psalm 94 .10, he who chases the nations, will he not rebuke? Even he who teaches man knowledge. 1 Corinthians 4 .7, for who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

When men do not glorify God as they should, bowing before his Lordship in the world of thought, or give thanks unto him, even for the knowledge that he grants them, the reasonings become vain and their hearts darkened, as we see in Romans 1 .21, okay?

Reasonings become vain and their hearts darkened. The man who claims scholarly neutrality or philosophic autonomy incurs God's judgment upon the very area in which the man boasts his intellect, and they won't even necessarily know it because their mind is already clouded and they're off on that rabbit trail.

And we'll discuss that a little bit here. Those who refuse the epistemic Lordship of Christ, the truth of scripture as the standard of knowledge and the necessity of God's light before they can see the light are led into futile thoughts and darkness.

Bonson shows the consequences of these words. Now, this comes right from the book. Just examine the sort of scholarly material that is produced by the universities of our land. Existential despair, relativism respecting truth, irrelevance in detailed studies, dehumanizing scientific advances, and a political paper chase.

Is this not? Now, I had to insert something here. Bonson died in 1995. Imagine what he would have said if he had seen our society just 27 years after his death. What has happened in these last 27 years?

I mean, we're in a position where you have supposed, a nominee to the Supreme Court says that she can't define what a woman is because she's not a biologist. We have people rioting in the streets because they want to kill babies.

We have parades celebrating same-sex marriage. I mean, we've gone down the intellectual rabbit hole. And that happens as soon as you set the presuppositions of scripture aside. If you leave it up to man and his natural, innate thinking that's darkened, futility of the thinking, as Paul says in Romans 1, this is where we wind up.

And I know you're probably tired of me saying this. I'm 76 years old, and I never would have believed in my lifetime that I would have seen the things going on. We could see them coming, but I thought they were way far off.

And here they snuck up, and now we're reporting some of these things as history. First Corinthians 1 .20, has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? When men are not proper stewards of that which God has given them, in other words, scholarly ability, then God takes away even that which was previously possessed making such scholarship vain, that is empty.

So we need to understand, we talk as Christians about being stewards of everything that God has given. And far too often, we don't include intellectuality in that stewardship. We think of money, we've got to be good stewards of God's money, but what about the wisdom of God, the intellect that God has given to us?

That too has to come under the Lordship of Christ. However, as Christians, we have heard Christ's word, which is able to turn us from darkness to light. The only wise God who made the world according to wisdom gives us a spirit of wisdom and enlightens our eyes so that we might both know him in salvation and have knowledge about his world in truth.

The foundation of knowledge is God's revelation. Are you founded there or intellectually adrift? That's how he closes out chapter five. Questions, thoughts, or comments? Yeah, John.

When you look at it, truth is truth, God's truth. Now we have hundreds of truths. So, because they say, well, if that works for you, then that's your truth, that's good. So if you think that you're a woman today, that's fine.

And then the lunacy, I mean, like you said, I'm in my 60s and what I see, I didn't think I'd live to see and it just, it doesn't cease to amaze me and it just gets worse and worse because the more you take God out of the picture and the true word of truth, you get anarchy.

Yeah, any other thoughts? And again, we haven't even gotten into how to defend the faith, you know, presuppositionally. That's coming. All of these first initial chapters are just foundational. We have to see the foundation first.

Yes. Yeah, I've seen several apologists when they're debating an atheist, they were asked the question, are you 100 certain that God exists? And their answer is no. So, immediately, you recognize that their thoughts are not dependent on God, they're dependent on themselves because there's a probability in which they could be wrong.

And it just, it makes, I don't wanna say it makes shipwreck of their faith, but it makes it so ridiculous. I would ask that person, so you have a relationship with a God that may not exist? You're supposed to come to God boldly with full assurance of faith and now you say there's a possibility he doesn't exist?

So, I like the way Jason Lyle says it, Si Ten Brigham Gates says, God should never be the end of an argument. He should not be the conclusion, he's the beginning. We argue from God. And then Jason Lyle says, with regards to, quote, Jito Ergo Sum, I think, therefore, I am.

Jason Lyle says, God says, I am, therefore, you think. Okay.

Yes? Is presuppositionalism, like that same tabula rasa or is it blank slate? Like everybody comes into the world with.

Yeah, everybody has presuppositions. And that's what Bonson said in the very beginning where he talks about the myth of neutrality. Nobody is neutral. If you set the Bible aside, you're not taking a neutral stance, you're jumping into the nonbeliever's camp.

So, my family members, even though they don't really oppose Christianity, they're very pro-state. They're very, they believe that the state is God. They have the right to tell you how to move your, yeah, they're just, you know, if you're a man.

Yeah, yeah.

Any other thoughts, comments?

Yes, John? So, when we're trying to reach people like this, how does one break down that wall?

You stick with the program and you'll find out in a couple of weeks. Yes, Jason?

When this is renouncing intellectual autonomy, is he actually saying that we are intellectually autonomous or is he referring to the illusion of being an illusion?

The illusion of intellectual autonomy. That's what we're at, you know. Man believes that he has intellectual autonomy when he doesn't. But, yeah, okay. And as far as Rene Descarcos, he was at a cocktail party.

Waitress asked him, would you like something to drink? He says, I think not. Disappeared.

Yeah. Is intellectual autonomy the same as free will? No. No? No.

There's only two types of thought. Thought either dependent on God or thought dependent on self. If your thought is dependent on God's thoughts, God who knows everything, reveals something to you, you can be 100 certain.

If it's dependent on your thought, I ask somebody, out of all the intellectual knowledge there is in the world, about how much would you say you have? Like, on an annual, you know, 0 .000%, right? So, could you be wrong about anyone?

Of course, you don't have all knowledge. So if your autonomous thought is self-rule or dependent on self, a presuppositional thought is dependent on God. From your thoughts.

Any other final thoughts, comments? Okay, let's pray.