The Reason of Faith, Part 2

In the third chapter, Owen describes several "external arguments" whose purpose is to establish a "moral certainty," or a firm persuasion. This is the kind of worldly faith by which we would believe that a scientific proof is valid. It can be build up into a very strong faith and persuasion, as are many scientific ideas. But because the arguments, or testimonies, on which it is based are "human and fallible," the faith that stems from those arguments is also "human and fallible."

The arguments he presents I will not reproduce, mainly because many of them are out-dated, and most of them are present only briefly. The external arguments for the authenticity of the Bible are not Owen's primary concern here.

Chapter IV--Moral certainty, the result of external arguments, insufficient.

Part I--Why Moral Persuasion is Insufficent--

1. The proper object of divine faith is divine revelation.

"The sole formal reason of all our obedience [springing from our faith] is taken from his own nature and our relation to him; nor doth he propose any other reason why we should believe him, or the revelation which he makes of his mind and will."

So our faith is divine and infallible, because the object of our faith, that is God's truth and authority, is also divine and infallible.

2. Now, the "moral persuasion" produced by external arguments is a product of human reason.

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Defining these terms:

moral persuasion--The firm opinion of the veracity of the word based on strong and logical arguments.

external arguments--Arguments outside of the testimony of God that the word of God is what it says. Many used today are the fulfillment of prophecy, the findings of archaeology, and the inner harmony of the Bible.

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Because it is a mere product of reason, and does not require the Holy Spirit. Since faith is considered a "gift of God" in the Bible, the persuasion which these arguments produce cannot be the faith the Bible speaks of.

Note: Owen says these arguments have their place in "preparing and disposing the mind unto the receiving of the truth."

3. Our assent cannot be greater in nature than the arguments upon which it is built. In other words, a divine and supernatural faith cannot be built out of human and natural arguments.

Owen's thoughts:

For instance, a man professes that he believes Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. Ask him why, and he replies "Because God, who cannot lie, has declared him to be so." Go further, and ask him where or how God has so declared. He will answer, "In the Scripture, which is his word." Now ask him why he believes the Scriptures to be the word of God (a question which must be answered, excluding in its own nature all further inquiries, or else we can have no stability or certainty in our faith).

If he answers: "I have many logical and clear arguments that make it very probable that this is the word of God, and I have a very strong persuasion because I have found no counter-arguments that can in any way make a dent in the force of the logic of my arguments."

We need only reply to him that those arguments in their nature are human and fallible, and they though they may seem very likely to him, they are in their nature open to falsification. Therefore, his faith in Jesus Christ is human and fallible, and may in the end deceive him.

4. We cannot believe the things revealed in the Scriptures, and the Scriptures themselves with a different kind of faith. We don't believe with a divine and supernatural faith that Jesus is God, but believe that the Scripture that reveals him to be so is the word of God with a human faith.