2 Cor. 5:7, "For we walk by faith, not by sight."I'm about finished with John Owen's The Glory of Christ: His Office and Grace. Along the way, I've been particularly impressed with Owen's analysis of the contrast between faith and sight.
One of Owen's central theses is that we glorify and enjoy God by beholding the glory of Christ which, for now, we do by faith not by sight. This means that, on the whole, there will always be a measure of uncertainty in our beholding, not in the sense of doubting the truth of it but in the sense that there are varying degrees of fullness and precision in our perception of Christ's glory both within the church and within ourselves. This is part of what it means to walk by faith.
In conversations with Roman Catholic friends lately, I've become even more convinced (certain?) that one of Rome's biggest attractions is the offer of biblical hermeneutical certainty. Have you reached an impasse trying to interpret passage x? Have you struggled with your understanding of doctrine y? That's okay. Struggle no more. The way is clear. Church authorities and ultimately the pope have ruled decisively. You can find rest in papal supremacy. You can be certain of what you see.
We all want so badly to walk by sight. We want to see the cleansing of our souls in bowls of water. We want to see the crucifixion of Christ and his actual body and blood spread out on a table. We want to see the efficacy of our prayers in strings of beads. We want to see the God we worship in paintings and sculptures made by the hands of men. We want to see the one to whom we've submitted our conscience standing before us dressed in purity.
These desires are understandable. I want to see too! But seeing is not for now. Seeing is for later. Seeing is for glory. To see now is to enter into idolatry. "For now we walk by faith and not by sight." "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29b).
3 comments:
I agree with your point about Roman apologetics. But, we have to be very careful here. When we speak of "a measure of uncertainty" (sometimes expressed as "relative certainty"), we have to make clear that we are moving from the divinely-constituted realm of faith to the realm of immanent-empirical historical reason. Christian faith with respect to the latter can only give reasons or evidences that yield probabilities, thus uncertainty. Christian faith with respect to the former (to faith) can yield certainty, but not empirically verifiable.
In truth, there is no such thing as "relative certainty." Either you are certain or you are not. If you are not, then you have an "opinion" about such-and-such, not certainty. Protestant theology has consistently, from Calvin to Barth, used the language of certainty -- the certainty of faith. Paul Tillich broke decisively with this Protestant tradition with his insistence that faith qua faith (not just qua evidence) must include doubt. As such, J. H. Newman would indeed be justified when he described adherence to Protestantism as "opinion," not "faith" (see Grammar of Assent).
"We ought not to seek any more intimate proof of this than that unbelief is, in all men, always mixed with faith. [cf. Luke 24:11-12] …While we teach that faith ought to be certain and assured, we cannot imagine any certainty that is not tinged with doubt, or any assurance that is not assailed by some anxiety. On the other hand, we say that believers are in perpetual conflict with their own unbelief. …In the course of the present life it never goes so well with us that we are wholly cured of the disease of unbelief and entirely filled and possessed by faith. Hence arise those conflicts; when unbelief, which reposes in the remains of the flesh, rises up to attack the faith that has been inwardly conceived. But if in the believing mind certainty is mixed with doubt, do we always come back to this: that faith does not rest in a certain and clear knowledge, but only in an obscure and confused knowledge of the divine will toward us? Not at all! For even if we are distracted by various thoughts, we are not on that account completely divorced from faith. Nor if we are troubled on all sides by the agitation of unbelief, are we for that reason immersed in its abyss. If we are struck, we are not for that reason cast down from our position. For the end of the conflict is always this; that faith ultimately triumphs over those difficulties which besiege and seem to imperil it. (John Calvin, The Institutes 3.2.4,17,18)
Kevin,
By the phrase "a measure of uncertainty" I mean to communicate Paul's inspired teaching in 1 Cor. 13:12, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." In other words, though we do know truth and behold Christ truly by faith, we know it partly (i.e. not fully) and behold him as a dim reflection (i.e. without absolute precision).
Jared, thanks for the quote from Calvin!
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