Wrong Reason (6)

Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.” Matthew 22.29

The secularist’s mistakes
The mistake many secular people make, as they think about Christianity, is the same the Sadducees made when they confronted Jesus with what they hoped would be a snare of logic to trap Him in His own teaching.

The mistake is twofold: First, they begin by assuming that their basic premise – no God, no spiritual realm, no resurrection from the dead – is instead an established fact. We’ve dealt with this part of the problem already. We’ve seen that nothing in the secular worldview can enable it to establish as a proven fact that there is no God, no spiritual world, and no rising from the dead. The protocols and limits of the secular worldview simply do not equip it to establish their view of such matters as fact.

This means that their premise is still just a premise, just as the Sadducees’ premise about there being no resurrection was just a premise.

What a premise requires is more facts. So, second, when Jesus added more facts to the Sadducees’ premise, the premise – that there is no resurrection or spiritual life – was shown to be false. What the secular premise requires, besides the reminder that it’s just a premise, is more facts, and the Christian knows just where to turn in marshaling those facts.

Jesus said the Sadducees were wrong because they did not know the Scriptures. They knew the Scriptures, at least, they thought they did. But what Jesus was able to show them was that they did not know how to understand the most basic teaching of the Scriptures. And this meant that their premise, conclusion, and worldview were simply wrong.

Responding with God’s Word
Notice how Jesus approached the Word of God in His response. He didn’t turn to some arcane passage, hoping this was one the Sadducees had somehow overlooked. No; He appealed to a text which would have been very familiar to them, the account of God’s appearing to Moses and calling him to lead Israel out of Egypt.

This text, from Exodus 3, would have been known by every Hebrew child: “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3.6). Everybody knows something about the Bible. And almost everybody – including most secular people – will agree with what they know, or what they choose to know, about the Bible.

For example, if you ask your secular friend, “Do you believe we should love our neighbors as we love ourselves?” he would undoubtedly agree. Or if you ask, “Do you believe in the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you?” he’ll surely affirm that he does.

What Jesus pointed out to the Sadducees was that while they knew the Scriptures, they didn’t really know them at all. Their knowledge of Scripture was superficial at best. If they really read the Scriptures and knew them in their context, they’d see something completely different. Jesus pointed out that God is not the God of the dead; He did not say, “I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” He said, “I am their God.” Jesus inferred from this that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive somewhere, and this He took as proof of the resurrection.

His response certainly resonated with the crowds, for when they heard it, they immediately grasped the sense of it, and were astonished at His teaching (Matt. 22.33).

On thin ice
The secularist is on thin ice affirming anything about Scripture, for the moment he affirms anything as true in Scripture he does two things: First, he puts himself in the position of having to consider that a book which contains any truth probably contains more; and, second, he exposes himself to a charge of willful ignorance concerning the fuller content of the Bible, content which, we know, has a direct bearing on his premise about spiritual things.

And if he affirms anything about Scripture to be false he opens himself to the challenge of how he can know that, given that his most fundamental life premise precludes his being able to know anything about God or spiritual matters, whether they are real or not.

Before, therefore, he embraces any premise concerning spiritual matters as a fact, he needs to spend more time consulting this Book of truth which he trusts at one level, fears at another, but of which, at a deeper and more important level, he is completely and willfully ignorant.

And, of course, you’ll want to be available to help him make those further explorations into the Word of God.

For reflection or discussion
1.  Summarize the mistakes secularists make in denying validity to the Christian worldview:

2.  Do you agree that almost everyone will agree with something in the Bible? Give some examples of some things unbelievers might affirm:

3.  Outline the argument here for using those affirmations as a way of exposing the secularist’s mistake in denying validity to the Christian faith (two thrusts):

Next steps – Conversation: Try this out with an unbelieving friend. Ask your friend whether there is anything in the Bible he considers to be true. Then ask this follow-up question: “Given that you accept the Bible to be true at one level, how can you be sure that it’s not true in other ways as well? Do you know enough about the Bible to decide what to accept and what to reject?” Then offer to read the Gospel of John with your friend. Hey, all he can do is say, “No thanks.”

T. M. Moore

Each of our “next steps” exercises is tied into goals and disciplines involved in working your Personal Mission Field. If you have not yet identified your Personal Mission Field, watch the brief video showing you how to get started right away (click here). Then click here to download your Personal Mission Field worksheet. Learn how to work your Personal Mission Field by finding a friend and signing-up for our Mission Partners Outreach.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved