Reasons For Revelation
Historically we learn that Greece, of which Corinth was an outstanding city, was a country that idolatrously honored the wisdom of man. It was thought during the ministry of the apostle Paul, that the welfare and prosperity of a country depended as much on the culture of man's reasoning, and on the establishment of literature, as on a strong army and great commerce.
This idea, when treated correctly, is worthy of praise. However, by Paul's writing we understand that they had the same trouble that is prevalent in our colleges and universities today: their love for learning was the occasion for ignorance. Philosophy was in fashion in Corinth in Paul's time, but then as now, it did not always take true reason as its guide. Then as now, much of the philosophy was prejudiced and subject to the authority of minority groups, and in the words of Paul, its propositions were stated "with words which man's wisdom teacheth" (I Co. 2:13).
The gospel preached by the apostles was founded upon an entirely different supply of information, and they who preached it were generally treated with contempt. In order to fortify Christians against this discouraging influence, Paul dealt considerably with the subject, and near the beginning of his treatise he included these words, "After that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe" (I Co. 1:21).
The "wisdom" of which Paul speaks evidently included the philosophies of men, and he teaches us that it is impossible for the greatest philosophers to discover within the limits of their learning, the promises and blessings found in the gospel of Christ. The great accomplishment of the scheme of redemption depended only on the pure will of God, and consequently, it could be known only by revelation. Since it is impossible for philosophical speculations to present knowledge of our God of salvation, "it pleased God to save believers by the foolishness of preaching."
The worldly wise philosophers idolatrously exalt their "philosophia," but in spite of this sophistical promotion their feigned mastery of ethics, metaphysics and knowledge fails to reveal the orderly obligations and duties of man. They vociferously preach love, peace and unity, but they render such impossible as they erroneously elevate inclination above obligation and try to justify the disorderly behavior by simply declaring that this is the manner by which obligations are fulfilled.
If they would accept the revealed information of the gospel the mystery would unfold. The gospel reveals that man is made in the image of his Creator, but man incorrectly uses the abilities of his image, becomes a sinner, a rebel, and having in this way in a sense partially erased the image, the transgressor needs to give himself wholly to the retracing of it, and so to answer the excellence of his birth.
Nor can the mentors of the world's glorified philosophies reach a united decision regarding the duration of man. From the labyrinthine lanes of man's wisdom comes the knowledge of the union between the operations of the soul and the body, and the teachers of philosophy find these operations so close that they face the perplexing problem, whether the ceasing of these operations of the body in death causes the ceasing of the operations of the spirit. How difficult, by philosophical persuasion, to decide that when death dissolves the body, that the spirit, which was affected by every former move of the body will not be annihilated by the dissolution.
God's revealed gospel teaches us clearly that the soul of man is immortal. The gospel does not ground the doctrine on metaphysical speculation, but on the only principle that can support the weight with which it is encumbered. The gospel of the risen Christ founds immortality on the will of the Creator, who having created our spirits by an act of his will, can eternally preserve them. In the very exercise of the abilities of our images, frail creatures that we are, the deep recesses of our hearts hold inherent desires and grand ideas of immortal designs which thirst for existence and a thousand ages cannot quench it, and which find their hopeful answers only in the promises of immortality, written in the glorious gospel of Christ. Revealed information testifies of Jesus Christ, who "hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Tim. 1:10).
That man somehow has a sense of guilt is attested by thousands of historical confessions and acknowledgments made by heathens of their crimes. Somehow by the abilities of man, true reason discovers that man is guilty. By appointment of creation, true reason discerns that a sinner deserves punishment, presumes indeed that a higher power will yield to the individual and varied entreaties of intelligent creatures, as historical temples and altars testify. By inherent ability, undisciplined reason goes so far as to perceive the necessity of satisfying a higher justice; this the historical knowledge of sacrifices, human victims and rivers of blood that flowed from altars prove.
All the speculative theories of all time have done no more than produce a systematic organization without a head. In their quest for a way to place all answers in the realm of human reason, worldly philosophers, civilized and uncivilized, fail again as they attempt to find a pardon from guilt. Human reason alone cannot find the way of redemption, for after our infallible God revealed it, human reason is lost in its depth, and needs all its power of submission to receive it by faith.
Gentle reader, woe be unto us if we refuse to exercise the abilities of our images and neglect to "bring every thought to the obedience of Christ," and forsake the "fountains of living waters" which are opened to us by revealed religion. How terrible the thought of righteous judgment, if we hide "the light of the glorious gospel of Christ," and determine to go to God by our own speculations and systems.
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