Faith

In the last post I talked about faith and reason without really defining either. I do not know that the definition of either is really understood by most people in a clear or correct way. When most think of reason they probably think of rational intuition; perceiving whether things make sense. Others might think of reason as the formal rules of logic, say modus ponens and syllogisms. Yet it is also proper, I think, to add perception and the senses to this definition, hence including the sciences as well as mathematics and philosophy. Suffice it to say, reasoning is something that men do; it is how men figure things out about the world. Many contemporary Christians are in the habit of rejecting reason to a certain extent, believing that it is wholly corrupted by sin. In a sense they are right, sin affects our whole being, including our reasoning capabilities. Men seek not the truth. Yet I know of nowhere in Scripture where the Word preaches skepticism. It was Athens and not Jerusalem that produced the school of the Cynics. What I believe Scripture does teach is that while the world can produce knowledge it is not the knowledge of the City of God but of the City of the World; it can produce truth, and truth that can be incorporated by Christians, but truth that is aimed not at knowing God but at pleasing man. And that is where faith comes in. Faith is that which corrects our noetic structure. What, then, is faith? I believe that the Heidelberg Catechism explains it better than I could:

Question 21. What is true faith?

Answer: True faith is not only a certain knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in his word, (a) but also an assured confidence, (b) which the Holy Ghost (c) works by the gospel in my heart; (d) that not only to others, but to me also, remission of sin, everlasting righteousness and salvation, (e) are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ's merits. (f)

Question 22. What is then necessary for a Christian to believe?

Answer: All things promised us in the gospel, (a) which the articles of our catholic undoubted Christian faith briefly teach us.

Question 23. What are these articles?

Answer: 1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: 2. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord: 3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary: 4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell: 5. The third day he rose again from the dead: 6. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty: 7. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead: 8. I believe in the Holy Ghost: 9. I believe a holy catholic church: the communion of saints: 10. The forgiveness of sins: 11. The resurrection of the body: 12. And the life everlasting.