Intellectualism? Faith? - How does it work?
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Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?” Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?” And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.” Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
Cleopas:
vs. 19 - “...The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.
Jesus:
John Stott, who taught Christians that their minds mattered and led them out of their safe, comfortable and guilty cultural isolation, died last week. Will we return to where he found us?
📷Soon after he became a columnist for the New York Times, David Brooks wrote that people were “misinformed” about Evangelicals. Part of the reason, Brooks reasoned, lay in whom the media chose to speak for us: choices that made as much sense as having “Britney Spears and Larry Flynt discuss D. H. Lawrence.”
So he introduced his readers to an evangelical whom many had never heard of but was, in Brooks’ words, “actually important,” John Stott.
vs. 25 - “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
Stott died last week at the age of ninety, once again with a very favorable eulogy in the New York Times. We will miss him in more ways than one.
In some respects this broadcast can be traced back to Stott. Over 30 years ago, I spoke at the London Lectures in Contemporary Christianity, an event founded and hosted by Stott. I spoke about the connection between culture, conscience, and crime. This was during the period when I beginning to understand the question of worldview and its relationship to Christian mission.
I am far from the only Christian influenced by Stott in this way. In 1967, at a time when most Evangelicals were content to remain safe behind the walls of their churches, ignoring the larger world around them, Stott wrote a book entitled, Our Guilty Silence.
Notice that there is an enormous difference in the two descriptions of Jesus.
In it Stott made the case that because the Gospel is “Good News” we are under an obligation to share it with others. This sounds obvious, but in 1967 this kind of witness, and that kind of engagement with the larger society, was the last thing many Christians wanted to do. They much preferred their comfortable worship and cultural isolation.
Among its many benefits, this isolation didn’t require them to think too much, especially when it came to matters of faith. So five years later, Stott wrote Your Mind Matters, a book whose title could serve as a mission statement for this broadcast.
In it Stott criticized the “spirit of anti-intellectualism” that pervaded Evangelicalism at the time. This “spirit” often produced “zeal without knowledge” that was mistaken for Christian maturity. True Christian maturity is impossible without understanding what it is we believe and how it applies to our lives. The connection between Stott’s work and ours should, again, be unmistakable.
I’ll also have you know, that Cleopas’ description seems to be the one embraced by the multitudes today, and is at best the belief of cults.
That I cared about prisoners drew John Stott and me close together. He was over and over the conscience of Evangelicalism, reminding us of our duty to the poor and the suffering.
But there is another description, and this one is by Jesus Himself!
Stott’s central role in the 1974 Lausanne Covenant, which brought the Evangelical world out of its self-imposed exile, caused Billy Graham, when he was named one of the most 100 influential people in Timemagazine in 2005, to say that Stott deserved the designation instead. As Graham told Time, “I can’t think of anyone who has been more effective in introducing so many people to a biblical world view.”
“While intellectualism seeks to qualify the data choosing the most plausible argument, Faith, through the same channel engages with the emotions.”
The pure difference between the two is that you can have intellectualism without emotion, but you can’t have true faith without intellect.
The pure difference between the two is that you can have intellectualism without emotion, but you can’t have true faith without intellect.
Quotes from Christian Apologists:
"Knowledge is indispensable to Christian life and service, If we do not use the mind which God has given us, we condemn ourselves to spiritual superficiality." - John Stott
"Knowledge is indispensable to Christian life and service, If we do not use the mind which God has given us, we condemn ourselves to spiritual superficiality." John Stott
An Excerpt from Beak point with Chuck Colson, Aug 2, 2011:
John Stott, who taught Christians that their minds mattered and led them out of their safe, comfortable and guilty cultural isolation, died last week. Will we return to where he found us?
📷Soon after he became a columnist for the New York Times, David Brooks wrote that people were “misinformed” about Evangelicals. Part of the reason, Brooks reasoned, lay in whom the media chose to speak for us: choices that made as much sense as having “Britney Spears and Larry Flynt discuss D. H. Lawrence.”
So he introduced his readers to an evangelical whom many had never heard of but was, in Brooks’ words, “actually important,” John Stott.
Stott died last week at the age of ninety, once again with a very favorable eulogy in the New York Times. We will miss him in more ways than one.
In some respects this broadcast can be traced back to Stott. Over 30 years ago, I spoke at the London Lectures in Contemporary Christianity, an event founded and hosted by Stott. I spoke about the connection between culture, conscience, and crime. This was during the period when I beginning to understand the question of worldview and its relationship to Christian mission.
I am far from the only Christian influenced by Stott in this way. In 1967, at a time when most Evangelicals were content to remain safe behind the walls of their churches, ignoring the larger world around them, Stott wrote a book entitled, Our Guilty Silence.
In it Stott made the case that because the Gospel is “Good News” we are under an obligation to share it with others. This sounds obvious, but in 1967 this kind of witness, and that kind of engagement with the larger society, was the last thing many Christians wanted to do. They much preferred their comfortable worship and cultural isolation.
“God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than of any other slackers.” —C. S. Lewis
Among its many benefits, this isolation didn’t require them to think too much, especially when it came to matters of faith. So five years later, Stott wrote Your Mind Matters, a book whose title could serve as a mission statement for this broadcast.
In it Stott criticized the “spirit of anti-intellectualism” that pervaded Evangelicalism at the time. This “spirit” often produced “zeal without knowledge” that was mistaken for Christian maturity. True Christian maturity is impossible without understanding what it is we believe and how it applies to our lives. The connection between Stott’s work and ours should, again, be unmistakable.
“Intellectual slothfulness is but a quack remedy for unbelief. . . .” —J. Gresham Machen
That I cared about prisoners drew John Stott and me close together. He was over and over the conscience of Evangelicalism, reminding us of our duty to the poor and the suffering.
Stott’s central role in the 1974 Lausanne Covenant, which brought the Evangelical world out of its self-imposed exile, caused Billy Graham, when he was named one of the most 100 influential people in Timemagazine in 2005, to say that Stott deserved the designation instead. As Graham told Time, “I can’t think of anyone who has been more effective in introducing so many people to a biblical world view.”
I. Why is the Intellect important to Faith?
I. Why is the Intellect important to Faith?
In this scene on the road to Emmaus, Jesus says something worth pointing out.
In fact, I believe it’s one of the most overlooked positions of the scriptures in the modern church today!
“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”
Now, in the N.T. Christ is referred to 554 times in the NKJV. Of those 554 times 173 are with the definite article, like our text which reads, “the Christ”.
It is in these 173 times that the position and title of Christ is accentuated for the purpose of reveling His divinity.
The Greek word CHRISTOS in the N.T. is the equivalent of MESSIAH in the Hebrew O.T.
But guess what?
Messiah in our English version is only mentioned twice in the O.T. - They are found in
“Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
So one could say that perhaps then we should not make such a big deal about this seeing the term is only mentioned two times?
,
, .
Yet, there’s another side to the coin so to speak:
The Hebrew for Messiah means anointed one.
The same word in various forms of the root MISHKAH, is used as anoint, anointed, anointing, 557 times in the O.T.
The English Anoint and Messiah are derived from the same Hebrew word.
Why is this important?
Because the first century Jew would have understood immediately the implication of the term “The Christ”.
The books of Exodus and Leviticus demonstrate clearly that nothing in the temple service, even the priests, could enter or be engaged unless they were anointed.
Moreover the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Also take for yourself quality spices—five hundred shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much sweet-smelling cinnamon (two hundred and fifty shekels), two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet-smelling cane, five hundred shekels of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. And you shall make from these a holy anointing oil, an ointment compounded according to the art of the perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil. With it you shall anoint the tabernacle of meeting and the ark of the Testimony; the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense; the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the laver and its base. You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy; whatever touches them must be holy. And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister to Me as priests.
Exodus 30:
The O.T. picture of redemption surrounds itself with anointing, and the foretelling of the Anointed One.
There I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.
Psalm 132
The N.T. fulfillment of redemption is accomplished by the Anointed One, precisely why He is referred to with this title in Daniel because it is a prophecy of the future .
Equally as important, is that no where in the N.T. is Jesus ever anointed by man for this role, but comes into this world as having already been anointed by God in His deity and infused in his birth as the man Jesus of Nazareth.
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
Now, why all of this?
to demonstrate to you the importance of the doctrine of the divinity of Christ as the Savior, and to show the importance of intellect in our faith.
But, there’s another part to this -
II. Why is Faith void without the Intellect?
II. Why is Faith void without the Intellect?
II. Why is Faith void without the Intellect?
II. Why is Faith void without the Intellect?
People say everyday that they believe in God, as though that in itself brings salvation, or at least some kind of peace of mind when they stand before Him.
But again the Bible is clear about these so called positions of faith:
Does belief in God bring peace?
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
John 14:
So then clearly, belief in God is not enough!
But, what about people who say they believe in Jesus, but believe that all faiths lead to life?
Are they not believing merely in the existence of Jesus, but don’t believe the things He says, and is that enough?
“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?
There is an inextricable connection between faith, intellect and obedience.
And all three are essential to salvation, otherwise it is not based on truth.
So the answer to this question, “why is faith void without the intellect?” , is simply that intellect guides faith to the proper target!
It’s also worth noting that intellect is subjective to the level of the intellect of the individual.
Conclusion:
But I argue that less or low mental faculties are not a hindrance to faith but actually an advantage, in that the intellect is simplified to the easiest mental
And so I say to you today that unless we are believing in the God of the Bible and not man, there is no redemption!
and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
There is no hope!
Without this understanding you may not be believing in the true Savior, and if you are not believing in the true Savior, how can you be sure of your salvation?