Chapter 6.24

The Certainty of Biblical Faith

Overall Objective

To defend the biblical notion of the absolute certainty of biblical faith and contrast it with the adequate certainty of visionary and practical faith.

Table of Topics

A) The Absolute Certainty of Biblical Faith

B) The Absolute Certainty of Saving Faith

C) The Absolute Certainty of Miracle Faith

D) The Absolute Certainty of Empowering Faith

E) The Adequate Certainty of Visionary Faith

F) The Adequate Certainty of Practical Faith

G) Hope vs. Faith

Extras & Endnotes

 

Primary Points

• The question of whether or not faith is certain depends on what kind of faith it is.
• Because the object of saving, empowering, and miracle faith are divine revelation from an absolutely trustworthy God, these faiths possess absolute certainty, without doubt. There is no risk whatsoever in biblical faith.
• Because the specific object of practical and visionary faith are not a divine revelation but a human decision or plan, they do not possess absolute certainty.
• The fact that saving faith requires absolute certainty but our assurance of salvation may waver is explained by understanding that salvation only requires an absolute certainty that Jesus is the only Savior available, but our assurance requires an absolute certainty that He is our Savior.

A) The Absolute Certainty of Biblical Faith

The requirement of biblical faith we wish to address further here is its full conviction by reason as the truth, resulting in absolute certainty. By this term we mean a faith without doubt. As noted in chapters 6.17-19, such confidence is based on the convincing evidence that God always provides with the revelation of what is to be believed. Accordingly, we have written elsewhere:

Biblical faith is never based on mere feeling or impulses, which would amount to nothing more than fervent foolishness. Rather, the faith that God expects us to live by is always reasonable. While philosophers may attempt to unnecessarily separate our “head” (mind, reason) from our “heart” (will) as if they are capable of working independently, such is not reality. The “heart” will never believe what the “head” will not accept. Our reason is the gate through which everything must pass before we will trust it. If reason rejects it, we will not believe it.

This is precisely why the more reasons we have for a particular belief, the stronger our belief is. To put it metaphorically, God intended the “heart” to be connected to the “head” in order that the former not be misled (cf. Prov 19:2). “Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate” (Matt 19:6) as fideists, Charismatics, mystics, and popular devotional writers are prone to do. As C. S. Lewis said, “The heart never takes the place of the head; but can and should obey it.” ^[1]

Here then is the vital intellectual component of biblical faith: a conviction of reason. More typically, this mental conviction has been described as trust or certainty. Throughout both the OT and NT, the idea of believing is always synonymous with trust. Trust is the essence, and the best one word definition of what believing is. Without trust, there is no belief. ^[2]

We also discussed elsewhere the concept of false faith in which understanding and even evidence is present, but sincere acceptance is not. The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that while understanding is essential to faith, it is not sufficient. Moses says to the Jews: “In the desert . . . you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place. In spite of this, you did not trust [’āman] in the LORD your God” (Deut 1:31-2). The Jews well knew and understood the power of God, but they did not trust it, and therefore did not have faith in it.

The same idea is conveyed when we read in Hebrews: “For we also have had the Gospel preached to us, just as they [the Jews] did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith [pistei]” (Heb 4:2). Again, the problem was not that the Jews did not understand the Gospel, but that they did not accept it. This is why Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears [understands] My word and believes [pisteuōn] Him who sent Me has eternal life” (John 5:24). Unbelievers may have knowledge and understanding of the Gospel, but not rational conviction, or a mental acceptance of it. Knowing and believing are two different things. ^[3] From a biblical perspective then, one cannot claim belief or faith unless one is certain of the object of such belief.

As discussed thoroughly elsewhere, there is a great deal of disagreement on whether or not faith requires certainty. ^[4] For example, Daniel Taylor, Professor of English at Bethel College writes concerning faith in the Christian life: “Clearly faith is not needed where certainty supposedly exists, but only in situations where doubt is possible, even present.” ^[5] On the contrary, it is neither clear nor true that Christian faith is synonymous with uncertainty or possesses doubts. This is not the kind of faith we have in God, Scripture, or in Jesus Christ as our Savior.

Many Christian philosophers have felt that faith involves a lesser degree of certainty. Louis Berkhof notes:

The word “faith” is sometimes used in a rather loose and popular sense, to denote a persuasion of the truth which is stronger than mere opinion, and yet weaker than knowledge [e.g. Thomas Aquinas]. Even Locke defined faith as “the assent of the mind to propositions which are probably, but not certainly, true.” In popular language we often say of that of which we are not absolutely sure, but which we at the same time feel constrained to recognize as true: “I believe that, but I am not sure of it.” Consequently some philosophers have found the distinguishing characteristic of faith in the lesser degree of certainty which it yields-Locke, Hume, Kant, and others. ^[6]

Such perspectives reflect the fact that, as Joseph Butler said, “probability is the very guide of life.” ^[7] This also reflects the perspective on certainty reflected in Alvin Plantinga, Richard Swinburne, and John Stackhouse as discussed elsewhere. ^[8]

Nevertheless, it is most common to find faith being spoken of as possessing absolute certainty, which is a conviction without any doubts. Accordingly, Webster’s Dictionary says that to have “faith in” something is to believe, “without doubt or question.” ^[9] Likewise, theologians Gordon Lewis and Bruce Demarest write, “Faith is not belief without evidence, but trust without reservation.” ^[10] This obviously reflects the definition given by the author of Hebrews who writes: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb 11:1).

Accordingly, Peter Jensen writes:

Some point out the insecurity and riskiness of faith, quoting Paul’s statement that we ‘live by faith, not by sight’ (2 Cor. 5:7). Surely [it is claimed] the very point of faith is that it is not certain. It is said that faith based on certainty loses its character, and becomes knowledge; we erroneously attempt to bring forward the eschaton, in which we know ‘as we are known’.

This reasoning is more plausible than cogent. It completely misunderstands faith. To illustrate from human relationships, my faith in an utterly reliable person is strengthened and enhanced by the certainty of its object. If that person promises to meet me at a particular time, but I doubt the reliability of the promise, my shaky faith is not better or more heroic than certain faith. It simply hinders the relationship. . . . The opposite of faith is not certainty, but doubt. ^[11]

There is much to agree with in Jensen’s statement, but some clarification may be needed. Much of the confusion on this issue would seem to be due to failing to distinguish the different kinds of faith. ^[12] Obviously, what we labeled in section 6.1.C as practical faith often (maybe most often) operates with only adequate certainty, by which we make a multitude of decisions based on the best reasons we can find. We get married, buy a car, and accept a job offer, all with only adequate certainty that such decisions and commitments were good ones. As we described in chapter 6.12, visionary faith is the same because it is based on human plans to accomplish God’s commands.

Unfortunately, many theologians attempt to confuse the adequate certainty of practical and visionary faith which are not completely based on biblical statements, with the absolute certainty of saving, empowering, or miracle faith which is based on divine revelation. For example, notice how Dr. Taylor suggests these are the same thing:

No significant area of life is free from risk. It is a key ingredient in every accomplishment and every relationship. Whenever a decision is required, there is risk. Wherever we must act, there is risk. Wherever people intertwine their lives, there is risk. Should we expect it to be any different in our relationship with transcendence? [God- of course we should!] Why should we insist on being certain about God, on having proof of His existence, or on having unmistakable absolutes on which to build a faith when none of these is compatible with being the finite creatures God has created?

If risk is an inescapable part of the daily life of the businessman or woman, the politician, the farmer, the artist, if it is at the heart of all meaningful relationships between people, then we should not be chagrined or embarrassed to find it also at the heart of a relationship with God [based on divine revelation?]. Believers have always been risk-takers (how else does one explain Abraham or Bonhoeffer?). Perhaps it’s because God Himself has been a risk-taker; witness His decision to create humankind and then to make Himself one with us. ^[13]

Several responses are in order. First, as we said, Dr. Taylor is confusing (intentionally or unintentionally) practical faith in the daily decisions for which we have no divine revelation for, and biblical faiths in which God has made us a promise through undeniably authenticated revelation, and in which there is actually no risk at all. The safest thing in all Creation is to trust a promise or obey a command of God.

Secondly, we demonstrate elsewhere that Abraham’s trust in God’s revelations to him was not risky at all, but based squarely on absolutely convincing evidence. ^[14] Finally, Dr. Taylor’s claim that God is “a risk-taker” seems to ignore that God has perfect foreknowledge of everything, and therefore, there is no risk in His experience at all. He always knows exactly what will happen and it always conforms perfectly to His perfect plan (cf. Eph 1:9-11)

Also, it would seem that part of the reason that some deem faith as less certain, is that they are often thinking of what we labeled philosophical faith in which many use “faith” to refer to divine revelation as opposed to scientific research. While we would suggest there is no difference in the level of potential certainty in these two realms, a perceived difference may lead to someone suggesting that faith (i.e. revelation) is less certain than direct knowledge through personal research.

Biblical faith is different and includes saving, miracle, and empowering faith, all of which involve absolute certainty, ^[15] or the absence of doubt, in order to properly function. It was, no doubt, in the context of biblical faith that the twelfth century Roman Catholic theologian, St. Bernard of Clarivaux (1090-1153) wrote Pope Eugene III: “A faith that lacks certainty is not really faith but mere opinion.” ^[16]

One reason that biblical faith involves absolute certainty is that it always involves our absolutely trustworthy God. As we noted elsewhere, “The Greek word for faith used in the NT is pistis, of which Vine’s Dictionary notes is always used for “faith in God or Christ, or things spiritual.” ^[17] The concept of faith in the Bible is always a faith toward God, not humans, and it therefore has the potential, the warrant, and the mandate to be absolutely certain, because God is absolutely trustworthy.

The author of Hebrews, as noted in 11:1, obviously thinks biblical faith involves absolute certainty:

When God made His promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for Him to swear by, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things [His purpose and oath] in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. (Heb 6:13-19)

This passage highlights what was said above about the fact that we can have certainty in our faith toward God because of who God is. What God says, means, purposes, and does will not change, and we can therefore put our complete trust in these things. And God wants us to have such certainty as, “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” because so much else in life is unsure.

Contrary to the object of saving, empowering, and miracle faith, much of the practical and visionary faith we exercise in everyday life involves the promises, performance, and plans of people, all of which we cannot be certain about. But if there is a God (and we are absolutely certain there is–and are, in fact, damned if we don’t believe it) then we can be absolutely certain about the things that He wants us to be absolutely certain about.

The second reason that biblical faith involves absolute certainty is that it involves the most crucial aspects of a person’s life. Who you marry or where you decide to plant a church isn’t nearly as important as whom you trust with eternal salvation.

B) The Absolute Certainty of Saving Faith

Saving faith requires an absolutely certain conviction of reason. At least this is the way in which it is clearly spoken of in the Scriptures. The King describes the disciples’ faith in Him when He prays to the Father, “I gave them the words You gave Me and they accepted them. They knew [egnōsan] with certainty [alēthos: “truly”] that I came from You, and they believed [episteusan] that You sent Me” (John 17:8). Likewise, the Apostle John says, “We have come to know [egnokamen] and have believed [pepisteukamen] the love which God has for us” (1 John 4:16 NASB).

Speaking of his faith in God, the Apostle Paul implies absolute certainty when he says near the end of his life, “I know [oida] whom I have believed [pepisteuka], and am convinced [pepeismai] that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day” (2 Tim 1:12). Speaking specifically of saving faith the Apostle says to the Thessalonians, “Our Gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction [plērophoria: “assurance”]” (1 Thess 1:5).

Again, it makes sense that saving faith would involve absolute certainty as, essentially, God is asking us to commit our eternal well-being to Him. Would He expect such a commitment if absolute certainty were not possible, available, or even required?

An additional reason that saving faith must be absolutely certain is that it must overcome anything and everything encountered in this world. The King said that only “he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt 24:13; cf. Rev 2-3). Jesus said this in the context of a faith that will endure when, “there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again” (Matt 24:21). Yet, because of the nature of saving faith it will endure, even in the midst of the Great Tribulation.

The Apostle John writes of such endurance when he says:

Everyone born of God [regenerated] overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our [saving] faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:4-5)

Such endurance requires certainty, and obviously, such certainty is most clearly revealed when tested.

While usually not distinguishing between the different kinds of faith, Christian theologians are usually speaking of saving faith when they address the topic, and it has historically been thought to involve absolute certainty. Thus, the Roman Catholic theologian Avery Dulles writes:

Theologians of different Christian traditions have agreed that faith is an assured belief. On this point there was no dispute between Protestants and Catholics at the time of the Reformation. Luther and Calvin built the element of certitude into their very definitions of faith. Luther called it “a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times.” [Preface to Romans]. Calvin defined faith as “a firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit” [Institutes, III.ii.7]. ^[18]

Some may argue that the fact that many real Christians struggle with a lack of assurance argues against our claim that saving faith involves absolute certainty. Here, an important distinction needs to be made that was made elsewhere:

Christians can possess saving faith such that they are actually saved, but still struggle with the confidence that they are saved. Our standing before God is something that we can potentially be absolutely certain about, but such certainty is neither immediate nor automatic.

The Apostle John seems to be implying this very thing when he tells his readers in 1 John: “I write these things to you who believe [with certainty] in the name of the Son of God so that you may know [with certainty] that you have eternal life” (5:13). John is writing to those who possess the certain knowledge of what is necessary for anyone to be saved (cf. 2:20-21), but his entire letter is an encouragement to them to gain the same absolute certainty that Christ has indeed saved them!

While we would suggest that salvation requires an absolute certainty in the objective fact that Christ saves, it does not require the same level of certainty in the subjective fact that Christ has saved us. A person can be saved without being sure they are saved, but a person cannot be saved unless they are sure Christ saves. ^[19]

Accordingly, we have also distinguished in section 6.4.B between the stable nature of saving faith which saves, and the growing nature of empowering faith of which the assurance of our salvation is included.

Even some of the statements of Christ’s disciples illustrate a distinction between a certainty that Christ is the Savior, as opposed to their Savior. For example, the disciples declared to Christ, “You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:69). In other words, while they were certain of who Christ is, there is no certainty communicated here about what that means for them.

Likewise, we read of the Samaritans who “said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world”” (John 4:42). However, did they have equal certainty that He was their Savior? Again, our point here is that salvation only requires an absolute certainty that Jesus is the only Savior available, but our certainty that He is our Savior may unfortunately waver at times. ^[20]

C) The Absolute Certainty of Miracle Faith

Miracle faith, as discussed elsewhere, ^[21] certainly involves absolute certainty that the miracle promised or desired will occur. Speaking specifically in the context of such faith the King said, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done” (Matt 21:21). Faith that includes doubt will not suffice for miracle faith.

This is clearly illustrated in the incident of Peter walking on the water. Clearly he had a great deal of confidence in Christ’s command/promise to “Come” out to Him on the water (Matt 14:29). Imagine the certainty it would have required for Peter to get, “down out of the boat [and walk] on the water . . . toward Jesus” (Ibid.). A lot. “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, [began] to sink” (v. 30) because he had lost his certainty in Christ’s word, and therefore lost both his miracle faith and the miracle that it produced. When the doubts came and the faith wavered, the miracle stopped. Such is the nature of miracle faith. Accordingly, Christ asks: “why did you doubt?” (v. 31). Thank God the same is not true of our certainty in our salvation or of God’s promises to provide for us. Imagine losing both our salvation and God’s care immediately and completely when our faith wavered. A point that illustrates the importance of distinguishing the different varieties of faith. ^[22]

D) The Absolute Certainty of Empowering Faith

One of the clearest examples of empowering faith is our trusting God to meet our physical needs, as He promises to throughout Scripture (cf. Ps 34:9-10; 37:3, 19, 25; Matt 6:33; 2 Cor 9:8; Phil 4:19). While these promises are always conditional on our commitment to Him, they are promises nonetheless. The clearest evidence that we are not trusting such promises is worry. When we are anxious about our physical needs, we are not exercising empowering faith in these promises of God.

Obviously, more of this variety of faith is needed by a Christian missionary living in a remote village of Uganda, rather than a Christian doctor living in a suburb of America. Still, both must trust God without doubts or anxiety before they can claim to have faith in God’s promises of providential care.

We would suggest that the certainty required for experiencing empowering faith is illustrated when Christ says:

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ (Matt 6:30-1)

While Christ’s words may at first seem to imply that those who worry may have a “little faith,” He seems to be actually saying they have no faith at all. If trust is a necessary ingredient of real faith, then the lack of trust that Christ speaks of here reveals something short of faith. Real empowering faith will possess a level of certainty that results in both a peace in the current circumstances because it trusts in the promises of God, and a readiness to obey the commands of God.

We would suggest the same regarding the Apostle’s mention of those “whose faith is weak” (Romans 14:1) in relation to Christian doctrines regarding the freedom to eat any foods. While the Apostle’s words at first seem to imply that such Christians have a little faith in Christ’s declaration that all foods are clean (cf. Mark 17:9), he says later that if someone were to eat such foods with “doubts,” they would not be eating, from [empowering] faith; and everything that does not come from [empowering] faith is sin” (Rom 14:23).

Contrary to postmodern skeptics concerning certainty, to have doubts in what God says is not to have faith, and to act on such doubts is sin. This is because when there is enough doubt to inhibit or halt action or peace, empowering faith is not present.

F) The Adequate Certainty of Practical & Visionary Faith

As noted in section 6.1.C, by practical faith we mean the kind of everyday faith we exercise in people. The point at which we know we have practical faith is, like all faith, when we are willing to act upon it. Likewise, while object of visionary faith is the pursuit of a biblical command, the specific plan is not based on divine revelation. Accordingly, in both practical and visionary faith, absolute certainty is neither possible, nor necessary. The reason it is not possible is that the specific object of these faiths is not a specific divine revelation of something God has certainly said. While many mega mystics claim that God constantly and divinely reveals to them specifically what they should choose in basically every decision of life, such people can rarely know this and God rarely works that way. ^[23]

While Scripture, for example, provides us with many sufficient guidelines in decision making, it does not tell us what car, house, job, or even Christian spouse to choose. Neither does God tell us when and where to plant a church or promise that it will succeed. The object of saving, empowering, and miracle faith is always something we know is divine revelation, and therefore can be certain. The object of practical and visionary faith is human information ^[24] using our God-given reasoning faculties to process the data we are confronted with in the decisions we make in life. So the reason that absolute certainty is not possible in practical or visionary faith is that it is not based on a divine revelation we can be certain of, but rather, often our best guess.

Fortunately, then, absolute certainty in practical faith is not necessary. This is because it does not involve matters of the utmost importance. If I subscribe to a magazine through the mail, I am exercising faith that the publisher will honor my payment and send it, and that the post office will deliver it. This kind of faith involves people, and whether or not I get the magazine, I’m only out a few dollars and some desired information. And I didn’t need absolute certainty to make this decision, only adequate certainty. ^[25] This would seem to be where many make their mistake in insisting that any faith must be certain. There is confusion here between practical faith in people and biblical faith in God.

Likewise, although the objects of visionary faith are usually more important than practical faith, absolute certainty is not necessary. Choosing what series of messages or passages of Scripture to preach on Sunday is a human plan to obey the biblical command to teach. God does not and will not tell me what topics or passages to preach on, and some may meet the current needs of the church better than others. But God simply expects us to do our best in such decisions and trust him with the rest.

This is not to say, however, that even practical faith never involves significant matters. Whenever someone agrees to have life-threatening surgery, they are exercising a great deal of faith in a surgeon. For that matter, every time we get in our car, which statistics show can be a very dangerous thing, we are demonstrating a good deal of faith in auto manufacturers, mechanics, and other drivers. Still, in such matters, we are exercising practical faith instead of biblical faith because God normally does not provide divine revelation either in Scripture or otherwise, to dictate such decisions.

We will note here as well that sacred faith, whether it be saving or otherwise, is not always more certain than secular faith. People believe in a myriad of things just as strongly as the born again Christian believes in Jesus. A mathematician trusts in his formulas as tenaciously as a Christian trusts in the Gospel, and as well they should. It is not the degree of faith that necessarily distinguishes the different kinds of faith, but their object. ^[26]

Extras & Endnotes

A Devotion to Dad

Our heavenly Father we are thankful that any faith in You can be absolutely certain because of the kind of Person You are. While everything else in this world can be uncertain, You are the immovable Rock on which we can always stand. Thank you for being so trustworthy!

Gauging Your Grasp

1. How do we distinguish saving faith from practical faith? Do you agree or disagree and why?
2. Why do we claim that saving faith possesses absolute certainty while practical faith cannot? Do you agree or disagree and why?
3. What aspect of saving faith must be without doubt in order to be saved? What part can possess doubts?
4. Why do empowering and miracle faith possess absolute certainty?
5. Why does visionary faith lack absolute certainty?

Publications & Particulars

1. Excerpt from section 6.12.A. ↑

2. The Hebrew verb ’āman means “to be certain, enduring, to trust, to believe.” (Nelson’s Expository Dictionary of the Old Testament (NEDOT), Merrill F. Unger and William White Jr. eds. [Thomas Nelson, 1996], 76) The Hebrews (as we do today) used the adverb form ’āmēn to express, “a sure affirmation in response to what has been said.” (Jack B. Scott, “āman,” Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT), Gleason Archer, R. Laird Harris, Bruce K. Waltke eds. 2 Vols. [Moody, 1980], 52) The noun form, ’ĕmûnâ, means firmness, faithfulness, or total dependability. (Ibid.) Another related Hebrew word is the verb bātah which means “to trust, be unsuspecting,” with its noun form referring to “security, trust.” (NEDOT, 218)

   The ancient Greek translation of the OT, the Septuagint (LXX), normally uses the word group of pisteuō (“to believe”) to translate the Hebrew ’āman (“to trust”). O. Michel notes that, “The LXX translates the Heb. Root ’āman uniformly by pisteuō and attempts to include in it the wealth of the OT group terms.” (“Faith,” NIDNTT, 597)

   The noun form of pisteuō is pistis meaning “faith” or “belief.” More specifically, pistis can be defined as “firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing” and “is used in the NT always of ‘faith in God or things spiritual.’” (W.E. Vine, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words [Thomas Nelson, 1996], 223)

   The NIDNTT notes that:

   The words of the pistis group denoted [in classic Gk.] originally the faithful relationship of partners in an agreement and the trustworthiness of their promises. In a broader sense they came to denote the credibility of statements, reports and accounts in general, both sacred and secular. In NT Gk. they gained a special importance and specific content through their application to the relationship with God in Christ: the trusting acceptance and recognition of what God has done and promised in him. (Michel, “Faith,” NIDNNT, I:587-8) ↑

3. Of course we are using the concept of knowledge as merely synonymous with understanding. However, there are times that the biblical writers use the concept to mean more, and make it synonymous with believing. Accordingly, Nicholas Wolterstorff writes:

   It is worth noting, in conclusion, that the believed and confessed kerygma [Gospel] is often spoken of by the New Testament writers as known. We in our age are inclined to offer religious convictions as paradigm examples of what is “merely believed,” not known. Not so the New Testament writers. The person who trusts (in) God also believes, that is, accepts, what he says; and this acceptance may well be a case of knowledge.

   Thus Paul says that “if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again” (Romans 6:8-9). And again, “we too believe, and so we speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” (2 Cor. 4:13-14). (Faith and Rationality: Reason and Belief in God, Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff, eds. [University of Notre Dame Press, 1983], 12. ↑

4. For an important and related discussion regarding certainty see section 2.5.C. ↑

5. Daniel Taylor, The Myth of Certainty (Intervarsity, 1992), 81. ↑

6. Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, (Banner of Truth Trust, 1958, repr. 1998), 500. ↑

7. The Works of Joseph Butler, W. E. Gladstone ed., vol. 1 (Clarendon Press, 1896), 5. ↑

8. For denials of the possibility of certainty among evangelical scholars see section 2.6.A.1. ↑

9. Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, Frederick C. Mish, ed. (Merriam-Webster, 1986), 446. ↑

10. Bruce Demarest and Gordon R. Lewis, Integrative Theology, 3 Vols. (Zondervan, 1987, 1990, 1994), II.102. ↑

11. Peter Jensen, The Revelation of God (InterVarsity, 2002), 196-7. ↑

12. For further discussion of the different kinds of faith see section 6.1.D-E. ↑

13. Taylor, 96. ↑

14. For further discussion of the fact that Abraham’s faith was based on evidence see section 6.18.B. ↑

15. For further discussion of the various levels of certainty see chapter 2.6. ↑

16. Quoted by Avery Dulles in The Assurance of Things Hoped For (Oxford University Press, 1994), 30. ↑

17. Vine, 222. ↑

18. Dulles, 230. ↑

19. Excerpt from section 2.6.B. ↑

20. For further discussion on the assurance of our salvation see sections 2.6.B and chapter 5.5. ↑

21. For further discussion of miracle faith see chapter 6.8. ↑

22. For further discussion of the different kinds of faith see section 6.1.D-E. ↑

23. This approach to decision making can be referred to as mega mysticism: the belief that God regularly communicates to us regarding extrabiblical matters (e.g. what job to choose) through more direct and miraculous means of divine revelation such as inspired intuitions, and miraculous “signs.” For further discussion see Book 14. ↑

24. For further discussion of the important distinction between divine revelation and human information see section 2.3.C.1. ↑

25. For further discussion of these two concepts of certainty see chapter 2.6. ↑

26. It is difficult to distinguish between faith and hope as Scripture does at times (cf. 1 Cor 13:13). Both concepts are used of things that lack absolute certainty (cp. Phil 2:19, 23 and 2 Thess 1:11). Some have distinguished them by suggesting that faith focuses on the things of this life and hope on the afterlife, but this is not a consistent distinction in Scripture either. ↑