Spurgeon on presuppositional apologetics

John Frame offers this definition of the presuppositional approach to apologetics:

"It takes account of what Scripture says about our obligation to presuppose God's revelation in all our thinking about the unbeliever's suppression of the truth, and it understands that according to Scripture the goal of apologetics must be to convince people that God's revelation is not only true, but the very criterion of truth, the most fundamental certainty, the basis for all intelligible thought and meaningful living." (New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics, IVP, 2006, p. 578).

When reading Surgeon's Lectures to my students the other day, I came across this remarkable piece of pre-Van Til presuppositionalism:

"...the sceptic cries, 'What I want is facts.' These are our facts: let us not forget to use them. A sceptic challenges me wit the remark, 'I cannot pin my faith to a book or a history; I want to see present facts.' My reply is, 'You cannot see them, because your eyes are blinded; but the facts are there none the less. Those of us who have eyes see marvellous things, though you do not.' If he ridicules my assertion, I am not at all astonished. I expect him to do so, and should have been very much surprised if he had not done so; but I demand respect to my own position as a witness to facts, and I turn upon the objector with the inquiry - 'What right have you to deny my evidence? If I were a blind man and were told by you that you possessed a faculty called sight, I should be unreasonable if I railed at you as a conceited enthusiast. All you have a right to say is - that you no nothing about it, but you are not authorised to call us liars or dupes. You may join with the revellers of old and declare that the spiritual man is mad, but that does not disprove his statements.' Brethren, to me the phenomena which are produced by the Spirit of God demonstrate the truth of the Christian religion as clearly as the destruction of Pharaoh at the Red Sea, or the fall of the manna in the wilderness, or water leaping from the smitten rock, could have proved to Israel the presence of God in the midst of her tribes." (Lectures to my students, C. H. Spurgeon, Banner of Truth Trust , 2008 reprint, p. 224-225).

Knights of the Lord's Table

The competent apologist is one who witnesses to the intellectual and existential integrity of the gospel, the extraordinary message that the triune God has enabled sinners, through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, to share in the divine life. It is not irrational to accept testimony, especially the compelling testimony of a life well lived. Those who speak the truth in love will find themselves not only proclaiming the passion narrative but in a sense performing it; for all who bear witness to the truth of God's wisdom - a wisdom at odds with the wisdom of this world - must be prepared to endure opposition. Knights of the Lord's Table seek to live well and, if necessary to die well in a demonstration of the wisdom of the cross. They are less conquerors than sufferers for the truth.

In the final analysis, the best apologetic is the whole people of God speaking and acting as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, arguing, living, and dying as wise witnesses to the way, the truth and the life.

Kevin Vanhoozer, Theology and apologetics, in New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics, IVP, 2006, p. 43.

God's ID

In a couple of recent posts on creation (here & here), I touched on the argument from design. This is an old and often used apologetic strategy. Thomas Aquinas the medieval theologian made use of the appearance of design in nature as one of the five "proofs" of God's existence. William Payley the 18th century apologist popularised the argument from design with his famous illustration of a watch that just could not have been created by random forces. The modern Intelligent Design movement represents an attempt to use design arguments to refute atheistic Darwinism and prove the existence of a great Designer. Evangelical Christians have been quick to welcome "ID". But the Bible does not use arguments from design to prove or infer God's existence. It simply states, "In the beginning God created" (Genesis 1:1). We accept this by faith. This is not a blind or irrational belief. Every human being has an inbuilt sense of God that is reinforced by what God has revealed of himself in creation. In the face of such internal and external revelation, it is unbelief that is blind and irrational.

But as I suggested in my earlier posts, the design argument needs to be carefully qualified. ID apologetics often fails to take into account the disastrous effects of the fall upon the natural environment. Arguing from this present creation to prove the existence of God has the potential to cause all kinds of problems.

ID spokesmen argue that a design demands a designer therefore a designing god must exist. But even Christian proponents of intelligent design admit that ID cannot disclose much about the nature of this god beyond the notion that he designed the universe. Some non-Christian ID theorists have speculated about what a designer god may be like. This is cosmologist Paul Davies' vision of god,

"...it is possible to imagine a supermind existing since the creation, encompassing all the fundamental fields of nature, and taking upon itself the task of converting an incoherent big bang into the complex and orderly cosmos we now observe; all accomplished entirely within a framework of the laws of physics. This would not be a God who created everything by supernatural means, but a directing, controlling, universal mind pervading the cosmos and operating the laws of nature to achieve some specific purpose". (God and the New Physics by Paul Davies, Penguin, 1990, p. 210).

Davies hopes that, "Such a picture of God might well be enough to satisfy most believers." (p. 211). It certainly does not satisfy me! Could Psalm 104 be addressed to such a god? Could it save me from sin? Could I make it my chief end to glorify this "supermind" and enjoy it forever? Davies' god falls far short of the God of the Gospel. A distinctly Christian apologetic cannot be content with simply arguing for some kind of designer god.

Does the argument from design, then have any role in Christian theology and apologetics? In my opinion, ID may not legitimately be used to argue from design to a designer god. But ID may be used to demonstrate that the fundamental Christian presupposition regarding God's existence and creative power is borne out by reality. Stuart Burgess does this successfully in his book He made the stars also (Day One Publications, 2001 - here). Burgess begins by setting out the biblical account of creation, "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, all the host of them by the breath of his mouth" (Psalm 33:6). He then goes on to show that the cosmos with its order, design and beauty reflects the power and wisdom of the Creator. Observed reality is consistent with underlying biblical presuppositions. The book succeeds in giving the reader a real sense of wonder at God's amazing universe. Burgess also reminds us that our Maker has acted to save us from sin through the Lord Jesus Christ. Geoff Thomas, wrote in the foreword , "Both our world and the heavens seem to sparkle with a new identity as a consequence of this book." That is exactly what creation apologetics should do.

God's ID as in his identity as the Triune Lord of covenant love is only disclosed in the fullness of biblical revelation. Speculation regarding his identity on the basis of intelligent design is a contradiction of the most basic principles of Christian theology. We cannot truly know God by our own powers of reasoning. He must disclose himself to us. God has done this above all through his Son, Jesus Christ. The revelation of God in Christ is received by the Spirit's witness in and through the Scriptures. Christians are not theists in the general sense of the word meaning that we believe that there is a god. We believe in the mighty God of the Gospel. As our Creator and Redeemer, he alone is worthy of our adoration and praise. It is him that we proclaim to a world of lost sinners,

Look to me and be saved,
All you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there
is no other.
(Isaiah 45:22)

The drama of creation

In a previous post, I considered the wonder of creation (here). Now I would like to reflect on the drama of creation.

Creation

Because the biblical doctrine is apparently threatened by evolution, we seem to spend much of our time defending the Bible's account of creation rather than appreciating its theological significance. The biblical doctrine is announced in the most startling way right at the start of God's Word, "In the beginning God created". No apologetics, no arguments - just an assertion that God created. This reminds us that we understand creation by faith, "By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible." (Hebrews 11:3). We should believe in intelligent design because God has revealed himself as an intelligent designer. Starting with design and then reasoning up to God is not the biblical method. Only when we begin with God does the universe make sense.

The Bible is God's dramatic self-revelation. God himself is the primary actor in this drama. His first act was to speak the universe into being. The universe then becomes, as Calvin put it, "the theatre in which God displays his glory" (Institutes 1:6:2, 2:6:1. Vanhoozer was not the first theodramatist!). If creation is abstracted from the Bible's story for the sake of apologetics, then it is dedramatised, cut off from the great drama of creation, redemption and re-creation.

Ruin

God's good creation was ruined and cursed as a result of the fall of man into sin (Genesis 3:17-19). The effect of the fall upon creation has to be borne in mind. Man no longer lives in harmony with his Maker. In fact, he is a rebel, dead in trespasses and sins. In his fallenness, he would rather worship anything other than the Creator. A sense of God has not been lost altogether, but that sense is suppressed, and ignored. God still addresses man through creation, but man in sin cannot and will not listen. The created environment has been deeply affected by the fall. Creation is subject to entropy and decay on a universal scale (Romans 8:20). As far as earth is concerned, this present evil age is characterised by natural disaster, disease and death. A vivid example of this can be seen in the floods that have devastated parts of England in recent days. Given all this, the arguments from design can only take us so far. Nature is now "red in tooth and claw". The world is not as it was originally made by God. If we argue from creation in its present state up to a Creator, then we have to say that he made the wasp to sting children at play and the cancer cells that rob people of their lives. There is still enough of God's goodness in creation to testify to his existence, power and care, but that is not the whole story. Even Psalm 104 recognises that creation, resplendent as it is with the glory of God, is marred by the presence of sin, "May sinners be consumed from the earth, and the wicked be no more." (vs. 34). An apologetic that wrests God's creative activity from the drama of the biblical story of creation, fall and redemption is deeply flawed. In terms of Paley's "watch", the timepiece was perfectly designed and constructed, but now it is broken. It still ticks away, but the face has been smashed and the casing is badly damaged. How it was broken and how it can be fixed is a matter not for arguments from design, but the biblical revelation of God's saving purposes in Christ.

Redemption

God's gracious response to the fall was to announce that a "seed of the woman" will bruise the "serpent's head" (Genesis 3:15). The Creator proclaimed the good news of redemption from sin and its devastating effects. This "seed promise" is central to the Old Testament plot-line. This is made especially clear in the covenant that God made with Abraham, that in his "seed" all nations of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 22:18 cf Galatians 3:16). The covenant is God's dramatic solution to the problem of a sin-cursed creation. The promise of a "seed" from Abraham's line is further narrowed down to a descendant of king David (2 Samuel 7:12&13).

These covenant promises were dramatically fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He was the "seed" of the woman, the "seed" of Abraham and the "seed" of David (Galatians 4:4, 3:16, Romans 1:3 & 4). He is also the One through whom all things were made. In him, the Creator took a created human nature that he might redeem his creation. He bore the curse of a broken law on the cross so that the blessing promised to Abraham might be experienced by all who believe in him (Galatians 3:13 & 14). The themes of creation, ruin, redemption and re-creation are tightly linked together in Paul's Epistle to the Colossians. Notice that the creation, not just individual human beings are the subject of Christ's redemptive activity,

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross". (Colossians 1:15-20).

Jesus' resurrection from the dead was the pledge of a new creation. He will transform the bodies of believers that they may be conformed to his glorious body, "according to the working by which he is able to subdue all things to himself." (Philippians 3:21).

Re-creation

The God who created the universe at the beginning has acted to restore his creation through Christ. Note that Paul deliberately echoes Genesis 1,

"For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Those who are united to Christ by faith are part of God's new creation,

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

This gives the Christian life an eschatological aspect. Believers have already began to experience God's re-creative work. This anticipates the final renewal of creation (Romans 8:18-23). The universe will be liberated from entropy and decay. All vestiges of the fall will be purged and the creation will be restored to its pristine glory. But creation will not simply be rewound to its pre-fall state. In Christ, the glories of the new creation will excel the glories of Eden. The resurrection bodies of believers will not conform to the body of Adam before the fall. We shall be made like the Last Adam, Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:47-49). In the new creation, the distinction between heaven as God's dwelling place and the earth as man's abode will be rendered void,

"Then I saw new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:1-4)

Conclusion

This is the drama of creation. The creation is not primarily to be viewed as an apologetic device, or as the basis for arguments from design, but as the theatre of God's redemptive speech and action. A truly evangelical doctrine of creation will not simply be concerned to refute Darwinism. A theodramatic account of creation will listen carefully to what the whole of Scripture has to say on God's creative activity. Yes, Genesis 1 will form an important part of that account, but we will also sing with the psalmists, and look forward with the prophets and apostles to the resurrection of the body and the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness is at home.

The wonder of creation

I sometimes get the impression from fellow evangelicals, that God gave us the doctrine of creation to equip us to oppose Darwinian evolution. Also, I often reflect on whether our creation apologetics is too narrowly focused. Creationist literature seems to be aimed at convincing sceptical atheists or hard nosed scientists that God created the universe in six days. Much time is spent discussing the fossil record, the speed of light etc. in a highly intellectualised way. Of course this kind of thing needs to be done, but there is a danger of reducing the biblical doctrine of creation to an argument over dead lizards. We seem to have forgotten that human beings are not simply data processing machines. We have emotions and imaginations. Our presentation of the doctrine of creation should appeal to the human sense of wonder at the beauty and complexity of the universe. We need to address the heart that is inexplicably moved by a sunset as well as the mind with its capacity for reason and empirical investigation. If we simply appear to be clever clogs who can score points against old Darwin, then we have lost the battle before we have begun.

Richard Dawkins is aware of this. He thinks that religion gives us an impoverished view of the universe,

"The universe is genuinely mysterious, grand, beautiful, awe-inspiring. The kinds of view of the universe which religious people have traditionally embraced have been puny, pathetic, and measly in comparison to the way the universe actually is. The universe presented by organised religions is a poky little medieval universe, and extremely limited."

This needs to be challenged. Christians appreciate the wonder universe on an intellectual level in terms of grand scientific description. We can do this because God has given us the capacity for rational thought and empirical investigation. The universe is capable of being understood on that level because it is the product of a wise and good God. But beyond that, we stand before the vastness of space and are forced to contemplate the meaning of our own existence in relation to our Creator,

When I look at your heavens,
the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a
little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
(Psalm 8:3-5)

Much of the Bible's doctrine of creation is written in song rather than in narrative prose. The psalmists consider the universe in all its vast complexity of stars and planets. They joyfully describe the earth with its mountains and valleys, rivers and seas, teeming with all kinds of life. Theirs is not a "poky little universe". Has Dawkins never read Psalms 19, 104 or 148? In these songs, the universe in all its wondrous diversity and splendour declares the glory of God. All created things exist to praise the name of the Lord whose glory is above earth and heaven. Christians have a capacity for awe but we will not limit ourselves to wondering at the mysteries of time and space. Ultimately we stand astounded before our infinitely wonderful God. Creationist literature, in limiting itself to the scientific arguments often fails to convey the sheer, uninhibited joy of the creation Psalms. These biblical songs should inform our apologetic. We need to allow not just Genesis 1, but the whole rich variety of biblical witnesses to testify of God's creative work. We don't simply want to win arguments, but invite people to experience the wonder of having a God entranced vision of creation. The alternative is not a universe of which we may stand in reverential awe, but a terrifyingly pitiless prospect. Here is Dawkins on life in a godless universe,

"Such a universe would be neither good or bad in intention. It would manifest no intentions of any kind. In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, or any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties that we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, but blind, pitiless indifference." (Cited in "Does God believe in Atheists" by John Blanchard, from an article by Dawkins in the UK Daily Telegraph 10 May 1995)

The Christian vision is far different,

Heaven above is softer blue,
earth below is sweeter green,
something lives in every hue,
Christless eyes have never seen.

(From the hymn Loved with everlasting love by George Wade Robinson (1838-77)

Let's discuss the fossil record and exegete Genesis 1 accurately. But let us also invite people to consider the Bible's alluringly beautiful, rich and deeply moving account of creation. May all that breathe join in the great chorus of praise that echoes through the universe singing, "the heavens declare the glory of God".

Sticking with this theme, in the next day or so, I plan to post on the drama of creation, where I hope to reflect on creation, redemption and new the creation.

Richard Bauckham on the "Jesus family tomb"

See here for a scholarly response to the recent claim of the discovery of Jesus' family tomb.