Long title; short blog.
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To many people the knowledge of God can lead to pride: that they know Him, how much they know about or of Him. Scripture paints a very different picture. The knowledge of God is humbling:

1. Without Him stepping in to reveal Himself to us we could know very little about Him. Ro 1: 20 limits such knowledge as being of His divine nature and eternal power. Surely we couldn’t know such an infinite God as finite creatures in any meaningful sense if He didn’t take the initiative to reveal Himself further.
2. God must reveal Himself then to us so that we might know Him. He did so through His written Word (2 Ti 3:16) and by sending His Son (Jn 1:4, 14:7–8).
3. A correct knowledge of God is only possible by His help. When Peter acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ, Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 16:17)
4. Coming to a saving knowledge of God through belief in Jesus itself, because of the blindness caused by our sin, is only possible because of God’s actions. Throughout the Gospel of John this is made clear, “no one can come to me [Jesus] unless the Father who sent me draws him.” (Jn 6:44).
5. Once we’ve believed in Jesus our sanctification and increasing relational knowledge of God remains dependent upon Him too. We need His grace to help us grow in faith (2 Pet 3:18a).
6. Even doctrinal knowledge of God is based upon God’s grace. His common grace to give us minds to think, and His Spirit who helps us to spiritually discern the spiritual truths of Scripture (1 Cor 2:14).
7. The more you know about God the more you realize how little you know. The finite learning of the infinite.
8. Knowing God as we are known by Him (1 Cor 13:12), produces a certain mystery, “What is man that you are mindful of him.” (Ps 8:4)

The Christian knowledge of God, from start to finish, is of grace. There is no room for pride in the knowledge of God, only humility, for such knowledge is not worked up but shone down. This radically changes our outlook as we are graced with humility. Though we are still bold in proclaiming our knowledge of Him, no longer is there any room for pride. When we speak of the reason for the hope that is in us we will do so in gentleness and respect. It has been my experience that this greatly alters, in an advantageous way, how we go about evangelism, apologetics and debates.

May we know Christ and make Him known, in humility. Surely, the Lord will use this for His glory.

I was recently asked a question, the answer to which I thought would be helpful to share as we journey through C2C.
 
The question was this: “Can the principle of Matt 18:20 stand on its own outside of its context…[it seems to hold a more universal principle].” In other words, can we take verses that seem clear and use them out of their context?
 
The answer is no and kind of…
 
We need to remember that context is king. Three basic contexts are always helpful to ask when studying a verse, its literary, historical and theological contexts. Literary- how does this verse fit with the surrounding passage and book? Historical- What historical aspects in this verse or passage do I need to understand to see it correctly? Theological- How does this verse or passage fit into other wider passages on the same subject (i.e. what does the Bible say on the subject as a whole). CONTEXT, CONTEXT, CONTEXT.
 
That context of Mt 18:20 is about life in the community of Christ, particularly what to do in cases of discipline. Christ has given the local church, in an official sense, the authority (v. 18, “bind”) to recognize who is a believer and who is not. This corporate witness and authority (itself harkening back to v.16) is affirmed by Jesus’ promise to be authoritatively and helpfully present in such circumstances.
 
Knowing the context is of vital importance to rightfully reading a verse, but also to reading it in all its richness.
 
There are verses that would be very dangerous to pluck out of their context. The classic is someone who opened their Bible, turned to Mt 27:5b (“Judas hung himself”) and then to Lk 10:37b (“go and do likewise”). We could flick open our Bibles and find a great many verses that we would mutilate the meaning of if we separated them from their context. Jer 29:11, “for I know the plans I have for your,” is a famous instance. It’s not meant to be a cushy verse just for anyone. In its context it is talking about Judah’s exile and is a call for the faithful to look to and hope in God during this difficult period in their history. It’s speaking specifically to believers, not saying there won’t be hardships, but that there is hope because of God’s plan of history. Once we’ve grasped the context, we can then apply the principle to situations the Christian may face today.
 
That said, I would tend to agree with our initial question that even though there are some verses that must be contextually understood, there are some verses, at least the principle of which, that can clearly and more independently stand on its own, like Ro 12:9, “hate evil and cling to what is good” (though it is of course enriched by its context).
 
 The principle of Mt 18:20 is readily recognizable. It is one realized by say Christians imprisoned together by their faith, that when the proper number of witnesses to Christ come together Christ bears witness to them in a special way by presenting himself spiritually in a way that could not ordinarily be experienced by a lone believer (another good reasons for the corporate nature of the Church/body!).
 
So context is king, even if there are some verses, that to a degree, might be better suited for their principle to stand alone.
 
 

Click here to read a blog on our other church apologetics blog. It is on the question of human nature.

A question that is often asked of Christianity is this:
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“What about all those who never hear about Jesus; is God just to sentence them to hell?”

The question is usually asked because someone wonders as to the ethic of such an exclusive claim of salvation.

So let’s begin with an example of an exclusive claim to salvation, Acts 4:12, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
The objection then often arises, but what about someone in a secular community or a remote island nation who has never heard of Jesus, doesn’t have missionaries or a church or a Bible to instruct them in the way of salvation, is that person eternally damned to hell?

Yes, they are “without excuse.” Why?

To understand this one must realize what the Bible says about humans, we’re fallen, sinful beings, cut off from God and incapable of any spiritual good that might please Him and therefore earn our salvation (read more here). This is why God graciously sent Jesus, to be the rescuer of all those who’d hear the Gospel message and put their trust in Him. This is the basis for an exclusive salvation. We’re sinners, God appointed a means for salvation, we must believe in Jesus in order to be saved.

But is that fair? (Another option would have been for God not to have saved anyone, we see His grace in that He choose to save some; something to think about). Yes, because people are “without excuse.” Why are people without excuse?

If I were born on a stranded desert island with no knowledge of Jesus I would be without excuse for not believing in Him for three simple reasons from Romans 1:

• Creation: I could look at creation, the beaches, stars, waves, etc, and undeniably know that there is an all-powerful God who created the universe and is worthy of my worship (Ro 1:20).
• Conscience: Further, I would know the difference between right and wrong and that my sin condemned me. I would know this because God had placed His law within me; it’s called our conscience (Ro 2:15)
• Innate Sense: Beyond all of this, as created in God’s image, as the creatures of our Creator, we each have an innate sense of God’s existence. There is no such thing as an atheist, only those who suppress the truth so we can be gods and live as we please (Ro 1:18b).

Well, okay, but isnt’ there a difference between knowing God exists and knowing him salvifically through faith in His Son Jesus? Yes. But knowing God existed and was worthy of our worship and that we’re sinful and incomplete without Him leads us to desire to seek Him. While we wouldn’t know this Biblical promise, as we sought Him in truth, the truth of this promise would hold true, that He promises to reveal Himself to all who earnestly seek Him this (Dt 4:29, etc). So, on that island, if I cried out to Him, through interaction with the wider world through a ship, or missionaries or a dream or a vision, He would ensure that I found out about Jesus so as to believe and be saved.

For these sorts of reasons Paul says that unbelievers, everywhere, are “without excuse” (Ro 1:20b); even if they’ve never heard of Jesus. Knowing of Jesus and rejecting Him only increases our culpability; not knowing of Jesus doesn’t diminish it.