How many times have you thought you were right and turned out to be wrong? Have you ever come to wrong conclusions because you didn't have all the facts, or because you were operating under faulty assumptions? ... ... ... This deserves our attention. How can one be certain of anything unless they know everything there is to know? Is it possible that tomorrow through some turn of events you could find out that everything you have believed up to this point has been wrong?
For the Christian, the answer must be "No." Christians don't just "hope" or wish that what they believe is true, they are convinced that it is true (faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen). And they are indeed justified in there convictions because Omniscience backs them up. Who's omniscience? God's.
God, and God alone, knows everything. That would mean that only he can know and be certain of anything, however, something else true. He has revealed truth to believers in Christ and in the Scriptures. God, the only one justified in his knowledge, imparts pieces of knowledge to us. Therefore, we can be certain of what he has imparted to us. This means that we have as a foundation for our convictions then, not our own intelligence or our own thoroughness in our investigations, but God himself. God's omniscient knowledge revealed to man is the only way to be certain of anything. We cannot survive on our own. Our finitude will fail us in the end.
For the Christian, the answer must be "No." Christians don't just "hope" or wish that what they believe is true, they are convinced that it is true (faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen). And they are indeed justified in there convictions because Omniscience backs them up. Who's omniscience? God's.
God, and God alone, knows everything. That would mean that only he can know and be certain of anything, however, something else true. He has revealed truth to believers in Christ and in the Scriptures. God, the only one justified in his knowledge, imparts pieces of knowledge to us. Therefore, we can be certain of what he has imparted to us. This means that we have as a foundation for our convictions then, not our own intelligence or our own thoroughness in our investigations, but God himself. God's omniscient knowledge revealed to man is the only way to be certain of anything. We cannot survive on our own. Our finitude will fail us in the end.
Essentially, what I'm saying is that if you want to be sure about something, you need an omniscient stamp of approval.
***
Now, one may be convinced of the soundness of the above principle (that only omniscience justifies knowledge) and yet still hold a bit of reservation. A good follow-up question is, "Does the bible teach such a principle?" I was encouraged recently to find these things in the Scriptures (thanks to a helpful pointer from R. Reymond).
This is the clearest Scripture passage that I now know of on this issue.
Job 28
1"Surely there is a mine for silver
And a place where they refine gold.
2"Iron is taken from the dust,
And copper is smelted from rock.
3"Man puts an end to darkness,
And to the farthest limit he searches out
The rock in gloom and deep shadow.
4"He sinks a shaft far from habitation,
Forgotten by the foot;
They hang and swing to and fro far from men.
5"The earth, from it comes food,
And underneath it is turned up as fire.
6"Its rocks are the source of sapphires,
And its dust contains gold.
7"The path no bird of prey knows,
Nor has the falcon's eye caught sight of it.
8"The proud beasts have not trodden it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.
9"He puts his hand on the flint;
He overturns the mountains at the base.
10"He hews out channels through the rocks,
And his eye sees anything precious.
11"He dams up the streams from flowing,
And what is hidden he brings out to the light.
12"But where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13"Man does not know its value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
14"The deep says, 'It is not in me';
And the sea says, 'It is not with me.'
15"Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it,
Nor can silver be weighed as its price.
16"It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx, or sapphire.
17"Gold or glass cannot equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.
18"Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;
And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls.
19"The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20"Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?
21"Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living
And concealed from the birds of the sky.
22"Abaddon and Death say,
'With our ears we have heard a report of it.'
23"God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
24"For He looks to the ends of the earth
And sees everything under the heavens. (That's it!!!)
25"When He imparted weight to the wind
And meted out the waters by measure,
26When He set a limit for the rain
And a course for the thunderbolt,
27Then He saw it and declared it;
He established it and also searched it out.
28"And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding.'"