God and Reason (9)

One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple. Psalm 27.4

Meditation
Daily and comprehensive reading of Scripture are the starting point for using your reason responsibly in seeking and knowing the Lord. But reading the Bible can only exercise our powers of reason to a certain depth or extent. To engage our minds more fully, and to draw on and strengthen reason’s powers more effectively, we will need to add a few more disciplines to our time in God’s Word, beginning with meditation.

Hugh of St. Victor (ca. 1096-1141) explains meditation as follows: “Meditation is sustained thought along planned lines…Meditation takes its start from reading but is bound by none of reading’s rules or precepts. For it delights to range along open ground, where it fixes its free gaze upon the contemplation of truth, drawing together now these, now those causes of things, or now penetrating into profundities, leaving nothing doubtful, nothing obscure. The start of learning, thus, lies in reading, but its consummation lies in meditation.”

Meditation is focused reflection, when we pause over a section of Scripture – a chapter, story, paragraph, or even a verse or two. We ask more pointed questions of the text as we wait upon the Holy Spirit to convey us through the veil into the very presence of God Himself (2 Cor. 3.12-18). In focused reflection, we are seeking the Lord in our passage, not just an understanding of the narrative or themes or teachings of Scripture. We want to encounter Him personally, in all His glorious weighty presence. So we wait patiently, asking questions about each word or thought, and perhaps jotting down whatever reflections or notions come to our mind as we meditate on God’s Word, or praying them back to the Lord with thanksgiving and praise.

Comparing Scripture with Scripture
To enhance our meditation and draw on the benefits of our comprehensive reading, we will want to look to other passages of Scripture to shed light on the one that has come into our focus. The third discipline for using reason to understand divine revelation is what is referred to as the analogy of Scripture. The Spirit of God delights to teach us the deep truths of God’s Word by comparing one section or passage of Scripture with another, so that the more light we bring to bear on the questions and reflections prompted by our text, the greater will be the likelihood that we will actually encounter the Lord speaking to us in His Word (1 Cor. 2.12, 13 ESV marginal note).

Searching, accumulating, and comparing Scripture like this engages and strengthens reason’s powers of association, memory, synthesis, and conclusion. As we set our minds like this on the things that are above, as these are revealed in God’s Word, we may expect to increase in our knowledge of God and His will (Col. 3.1-3; Rom. 12.1, 2).

Learning from others
Fourth, it is also important that we submit to the teaching of others more capable in the Word of God than we. Pastors, Bible study leaders, commentators, theologians, and others – both contemporary and from the past – can help to engage and strengthen our reason in understanding God’s Word in ways that can lead us beyond whatever limits of understanding our own reasoning powers might have achieved. They can lead us into new depths of meditation, illuminate nuances of meaning we may have overlooked, and urge us on to deeper understanding and greater devotion to God’s Word.

No shortage of opportunities or resources exists for us to learn from others, but we must always take care that whatever we read or hear should be sifted through the teaching of Scripture, lest we be led astray by some perhaps well-meaning but misguided wind of doctrine (Acts 17.11; Eph. 4.14).

Speaking truth in love
Chuck Colson often insisted that we never truly learn something until we teach it. In this he echoed Paul’s own teaching (Col. 3.16). What reason allows us to bring to richness in our own souls we must be ready to share with others, to encourage and edify them in the Lord, or to bear witness to His truth. Speaking with others about what we’re learning is the fifth discipline that can aid reason in understanding divine revelation.

Talking with others about what we’ve been learning – whether in informal conversations or more formal teaching situations – engages reason at other levels, such as recall, association, synthesis, and argument and persuasion, so that we learn more about God’s Word even as we talk through it with others.

The human mind is made for reasoning. We are the image-bearers of God, and God is the Logos, the Reason or Explanation of all things. We learn to reason as children and improve our ability to use reason through schooling, friends, work, and by various other means. We can study reason, to understand how it works and learn to use it better. And we can discover the proper ways of applying the tools of reason to the task of understanding divine revelation by reading, meditation, comparing Scripture with Scripture, learning from others, and talking about what God is teaching us in His Word.

For reflection
1.  Why is it important to take time to meditate in Scripture, as well as to read it?

2.  How does meditating on Scripture help to shape us for sound reason?

3.  What place does talking with others about your reading and meditation have in your walk with the Lord?

Next steps – Transformation: We have mention four disciplines in this article to build on the first discipline of daily, comprehensive reading from God’s Word. Which of these disciplines are in place in your life? Where might you improve in using any of these disciplines?

T. M. Moore

This is part 2 of a 2-part series on God and Reason. You can download this week’s study as a free PDF, suitable for personal or group use, by clicking here.

We invite you to register for the free online course, One in Twelve: Introduction to Christian Worldview. This course provides a sweeping panorama of how life in the Kingdom of God unfolds in our age in flight from God. Set your own schedule and study at your own pace. Learn more, and register for One in Twelve, by clicking here.

Help us discover the state of people’s understanding of God’s truth. Watch the brief video explaining our Understanding the Bible Questionnaire (click here). Then download the Questionnaire and begin using it with the people in your Personal Mission Field. Be sure to come back to the website and record the answers you receive. We’ll update you from time to time on what we’re learning.

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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.