Torch, Winter 1978

12 Back la the Basics Allen L. Monroe W hat is knowledge?What can we know? How do we come to know what we know? How do we know we really know? What are the limits of knowledge? These questions of origin, processes and validation of knowledge are the essence of that study known as epistemology. The answers to these and all questions pertaining to knowledge ultimately start with a proper understanding of God and His creation. To the Christian mind, knowledge is impossible apart from the existence of a personal-infinite God as revealed in Scripture. It is only in the self– contained trinity that we can have an answer for what we know and howwe know. The very heart of what a Christian believes, what he accepts to be true, the presupposition of Christianity itself, rests on the fact that a personal God has acted in history to reveal Himself. That self-revelation has come both in natural revelation (in the created universe and His providential care) and in special revelation (by the Living Word, in and through the written Word). Since Scripture is God's voluntary self– revelation, our knowledge of who the Creator is and who we are must come from this authoritative Word. Since all knowledge begins with God and the authority of His word, it follows that the revelation must be self– authenticating and self-attesting. The Word carries within itself its own validation since God is the only adequate witness to Himself. The charge will invariably be made that we are engaged in circular reasoning in that we believe Scripture because it is true and we believe something to be true because it is in Scripture. However, circular reasoning is the only reasoning that is possible for finite man because we either reason from God to God-given and God-interpreted facts, or from man to man-interpreted facts. We either start with a self-contained God who is dependent upon no one but Himself or with an autonomous man who is able to attain knowledge independent of God's direction and standards. If we are to comprehend what man can know, it is essential that we understand the origin of knowledge, which in turn demands a proper concept of God's knowledge. There are two levels of knowing just as there are two levels of being. God's knowledge is eternal, ultimate and absolute; man's knowledge is temporal, derivative and dependent. God's knowledge of Himself and a// other things is original and absolutely comprehensive. God has never learned anything because He has always known everything there is to know and therefore the existence of a fact in the universe not known by God is simply an impossibility. Unlike man, God cannot grow in His knowledge or develop in His being. His self– sufficiency precludes any growth or change in any of His attributes (Psalm 102:26, 27).