A.W. Pink was a Reformed author in the early to mid 1900's. His works are of invaluable worth. I was inspired and instructed in the days of my youth by the unabridged version of his book The Sovereignty of God and recommend it to this day. In his book The Attributes of God, which is itself otherwise very good, he states "The Holy Spirit has to shine in our hearts (not intellects) in order to give us 'the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ' (2 Cor. 4:6)". And earlier in the same chapter he reiterates this thought by saying "Nor is God known by the intellect". Jesus in contrast to this states in Luke 10:27 that we are to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind " (italics mine). The Lord warns of those who darken counsel by words without knowledge in Job 38:1,2. In Jeremiah we learn that if Israel will repent God will send them shepherds "who will feed them with knowledge and understanding "(Jer. 3:15) but he later proclaims that they are foolish, as silly children, having no understanding (Jer. 4:22). Paul in Romans 10:2 tells us that Israel has a zeal for God but not according to knowledge and he warns us of end times in which people will be always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth in 2 Timothy 3:7. There are those who say "no creed but Christ " but scripture says no creed, no Christ. Salvation demands we both understand and assent to the Gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ. It is just as illegitimate to dichotomise a head faith and a heart faith as it is Christ's being Savior from Christ being Lord. Lack of knowledge leads to false worship.Sunday, April 22, 2007
Lamentations #4
A.W. Pink was a Reformed author in the early to mid 1900's. His works are of invaluable worth. I was inspired and instructed in the days of my youth by the unabridged version of his book The Sovereignty of God and recommend it to this day. In his book The Attributes of God, which is itself otherwise very good, he states "The Holy Spirit has to shine in our hearts (not intellects) in order to give us 'the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ' (2 Cor. 4:6)". And earlier in the same chapter he reiterates this thought by saying "Nor is God known by the intellect". Jesus in contrast to this states in Luke 10:27 that we are to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind " (italics mine). The Lord warns of those who darken counsel by words without knowledge in Job 38:1,2. In Jeremiah we learn that if Israel will repent God will send them shepherds "who will feed them with knowledge and understanding "(Jer. 3:15) but he later proclaims that they are foolish, as silly children, having no understanding (Jer. 4:22). Paul in Romans 10:2 tells us that Israel has a zeal for God but not according to knowledge and he warns us of end times in which people will be always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth in 2 Timothy 3:7. There are those who say "no creed but Christ " but scripture says no creed, no Christ. Salvation demands we both understand and assent to the Gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ. It is just as illegitimate to dichotomise a head faith and a heart faith as it is Christ's being Savior from Christ being Lord. Lack of knowledge leads to false worship.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
... How do you know what you are worshipping and why you are worshipping if you do not know and understand? What is the purpose then? How do you witness or share something that you do not know... (and feel?)... The heart and the head cannot be separated.
Post a Comment