As is evident in their booklet, Can
We Know the Truth?, by Richard Phillips, The Gospel
Coalition tacitly supports presuppositionalism. This is
the view, first, that our presuppositions (things we suppose before
we know anything else) entirely condition knowledge or truth for us
— that is, are nothing less than the very basis for rational thought. Put
differently, when it comes to knowing reality, presuppositions are like glasses
cemented to our faces. We cannot see God or other persons or anything else
outside of us directly but only indirectly through the conceptual framework or
presuppositional state of the mind. Second, the only appropriate
presuppositions to know God and objective truth come to believers through
regeneration by the Spirit and the knowledge of Scripture. It is the adoption
of this approach to reality which explains why The Gospel Coalition claims that
there is no common ground for truth between believers and
unbelievers. According to presuppositionalism, then, those with
non-Christian presuppositions (lacking the appropriate glasses) cannot know
objective truth and must therefore, first, be taught to accept Christian
presuppositions (the appropriate glasses) so they can know
truth in general and, in particular, that Jesus is Lord. Below I
provide ten problems associated with presuppositionalism, as I have defined it,
and then list these problems again with explanations.
***
Update: I have appended below a response to Dr. Frame's "Ten Problems with Presuppositionalism Answered." Many thanks to him for graciously taking time out of his busy schedule to answer my ten problems. I trust my readers will understand that though I am sure Dr. Frame is greatly esteemed by the members of The Gospel Coalition council and would, perhaps, be in agreement with much of what they have written at their website and in their booklet on truth, yet he is still his own thinker. For instance, in his answer to problem #7 about how presuppositionalism denies that the unregenerate can know truth objectively, Frame says: "Rom. 1 tells us that non-believers know God clearly from the things he has made. So in fact they CAN know truth truly and objectively." I was pleasantly surprised by that but it shows, at least on that point, how he differs with The Gospel Coalition.
Update #2 (09/09/2016): To their credit, on March 12, 2012 The Gospel Coalition posted an article by Paul Copan, which thoughtfully highlights certain problems with presuppositionalism (such as its question-begging nature, its denial of a common ground or public case for the truth between believers and unbelievers, etc.).
***
Ten Problems with Presuppositionalism
1. Presuppositionalism denies the biblical
assumption of the public nature of the truth of the gospel.
2. Presuppositionalism alters the task of
evangelism such that the priority of presenting the apostolic case for Jesus as
Lord takes a back seat to first persuading people to accept
the general tenets of Christian belief.
3. Presuppositionalism adopts a coherence rather
than correspondence account of truth which is assumed in Scripture and by our
God-given, common sense.
4. Presuppositionalism is a relatively new,
twentieth-century doctrine, philosophical in nature and unknown to the
apostles and prophets through whom God gave us the Scriptures.
5. Presuppositionalism, as a doctrinal
mixture of philosophy and Christian Reformed theology, violates a
cardinal principle which is perhaps most distinctive to that theology,
namely, sola Scriptura (or Scripture alone as the basis for
our faith and practice).
6. Presuppositionalism boldly recasts what the
Bible says is fundamentally a problem of sin as a problem of
knowing.
7. Presuppositionalism claims that apart from
regeneration in Christ and the Scriptures people cannot know or convey
truth truly or objectively.
8. Presuppositionalism weakens by implication the church's public stance for
truth.
9. Presuppositionalism indirectly confirms the relativism of our age by
affirming that truth is relative to Christian presuppositions.
10. Presuppositionalism burdens uneducated (and
even educated) persons in the church both here in America and
throughout the world with obscure problems about knowledge or truth that they are in
no position to understand or evaluate.
***
Ten Problems with
Presuppositionalism Explained
1. Presuppositionalism denies
the biblical assumption of the public nature of the truth of the gospel.
Presuppositionalism's
"for believers only" approach to truth rejects what the Bible
assumes about the gospel as is evident in the apostolic sermons
in Acts (for instance, see Acts 2:1-36)
namely, the court room, public, shared-objective-ground nature
of its truth, including the role of witnesses and
evidences supporting the reasonable conclusion (or verdict) that Jesus of
Nazareth is Lord and Messiah. By implication, presuppositionalism
leads one to conclude that in the book of Acts the
apostles mistakenly and routinely appealed to "neutral
facts" and a common ground for truth between believers and
unbelievers.
For instance, in the passage just
highlighted (Acts 2:1-36), Peter begins his sermon to people who did not have
Christian presuppositions (a reasonable assumption since they had just recently
crucified Jesus) with the exhortation, "let this be known to you" (2:14).
Now if Peter thought (as presuppositionalists do) that the absence of the tenets of the Christian faith in
these people to whom he was preaching prevented them from knowing anything at all —
that is, kept them from having what was necessary for rational thought — would we not see him first
providing such tenets before continuing with what he had to say? Instead, what
does he do? Peter exhibits throughout his sermon a confidence that these people
with non-Christian presuppositions did know certain things and at the same time
did not know certain other things critical to their salvation. That is, Peter did not
relate to the people as if all their knowing up to this point was false or
untrue, because they lacked Christian presuppositions. There was, indeed, not a
hint of that notion that what Peter had to say to the people was “for believers
only.” What he offered was truth, in an important sense, for everyone. Hence, as Peter
proceeds with his intention to “let this be known to you,” let us notice that
he always (as in a court of law) assumes a shared ground for objective truth between
himself and his audience of unbelievers:
1. Peter says that the people with
tongues of fire over their heads who were speaking of the mighty works of God
in languages they had not learned were not drunk since it was about nine o’clock
in the morning (2:15). Notice that this is an inductive argument based on
probability. Technically, the whole lot of them could have been hitting the
bottle that early in the day but, based on what people generally do, such a
thing is highly improbable. Let us notice here that Peter is reasoning with the
people as if what they knew and what he knows are, in some sense, the same (that is, the same basic, rational framework).
They have the same intelligent experience of the world: people don’t generally get drunk at nine o’clock in the morning. Without
this shared ground for truth, Peter couldn’t have argued even this little point. So whatever
Peter is going to make known to the people here in his sermon in Acts 2 belongs, in some important sense, to
the same universally knowable reality everyone is familiar with.
2. Peter says in the early part of his message in Acts 2 that the miraculous
ability these disciples had to speak of the “mighty works of God” in
languages that they had not learned was the fulfillment of something else they
knew about: the prophecy in Joel 2 of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the
last days. He is implying that the people are successfully knowing that these
people are miraculously speaking in foreign languages and can know that this
special demonstration of God’s power is the fulfillment of an Old Testament
prophecy.
3. Next, Peter speaks of Jesus of
Nazareth, “a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs
that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know” (2:22). Again,
there is no indication of a problem for knowledge. Peter states plainly, “as
you yourselves know,” to remind them that they do know certain things. Again,
he does not treat their knowledge, thus far or on these particular specifics,
as a problem. We observe, instead, that Peter in carrying out his intent to “let
this be known to you” (2:14) is presenting — one after the other — all these
items of knowledge together as he prepares to deliver some knowledge (that is,
the gospel) to the people that they don’t know.
4. Peter now addresses directly the
crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth “by the hands of lawless men” (2:23). They all
knew about the death of Jesus. This is “neutral ground,” we might say. Shared, objective
ground for truth. But then Peter suddenly adds something to this knowledge that
they didn’t know: “God raised him [Jesus] up, loosing the pangs of death,
because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (2:24). Realizing that
this is a controversial claim (no doubt many had heard about it and taken it to be a false
rumor), Peter quotes King David from Psalm 16:8-11, and, in particular, I note
(as Peter himself does) this particular Messianic promise, “For you will not
abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption” (v. 10). Peter
says, “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David
that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day” (2:29).
What is it for Peter to speak “with confidence” that David is dead? Is it not
the same thing as saying, “I know for certain that David is dead, and if anyone
has doubts about this, go check out his tomb.” Implication? The prophecy of a “Holy
One” whose body God would not allow to “see corruption” cannot apply to David,
because if it did, then clearly it is false. Is this confident knowing
something only Peter had? When he says, “I may say to you with confidence,” is
it not true that everyone among those thousands listening to him that day could
say the same thing? Did anyone doubt
that David was dead? Is this not common knowledge? Wasn't David's tomb a shared, public certainty for
knowing that David was dead? More importantly, for the broader question of presuppositionalism
itself: Has Peter said anything up to
this point that might support presuppositionalism? That is, has he said anything that might encourage the people to whom he was speaking to believe that
their knowledge of the things set forth so far was not rational, not true knowledge,
or not reliable as an apprehension of reality, particularly, because they lacked Christian
presuppositions?
5. Since the prophecy could not have
applied to King David, to whom did it apply? Peter has an answer for that: “Being
therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he
would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the
resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his
flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are
witnesses” (2:30-32). Again, this is what we might call court room
epistemology, that is, the same conceptual framework for truth and knowledge that
undergirds testimony in a court room. If the defendant and his lawyer, on the other hand, had a special way of
knowing things and tried to make a case based on such, would it not be thrown out?
Why? Without a common ground for truth, the very purpose of a trial
would be thwarted. Underlying court room epistemology assumes that truth — however difficult to obtain — is
nevertheless knowable, and we all have the same way of knowing it.
What is a “witness”? A “wit”
is one who knows. The suffix, “ness,” indicates the office, state, or quality
of something. A “witness,” we might say then is a “knower-ness, “knower in state,” or “knower
of interest.” A “witness” is someone who knows something pertinent to a case
and knows it the same way everyone
else (the judge, the attorneys, the jury, those present in the court room, and
the public beyond the court room) involved in the trial knows things. A “witness,” we might say,
is a surrogate knower for the rest of us who do not have the particular experience
of that “witness” but could have had such
if we had been where they were — or saw or heard what they did. A “witness” is not someone who knows things in a unique, special, or esoteric way different from
others. Anything uniquely subjective in that manner may be interesting or even
inviting but cannot be binding as public knowledge on others nor helpful in an objective veridical quest. When the apostles, therefore, claimed to be (as Peter says in 2:32) “witnesses” of the risen Lord, they meant that they saw Jesus in the same way others could have seen him had they been there (see also 1 John 1:1-3). The apostles heard the risen Jesus the same way others could have. The apostles ate with Jesus in the same way others could have done had they been there. The apostles were (and are for us who weren’t there) — again — surrogate knowers and assumes (obviously) a shared, universal ground for truth. Otherwise, it carries no weight toward the public or true-for-everyone conclusion that Jesus truly has been raised from the dead (see also 1 Corinthians 15:4-8). Finally, all of the foregoing implies that a "witness" — though not always reliable — may actually offer objective truth or serve faithfully as an agent of truth. This is why our Lord and his apostles employ Moses's standard for establishing the truth of a matter by the evidence of two or three witnesses (see Deuteronomy 19:15; Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1). If, on the other hand, presuppositionalism is correct in its denial that humans can even have reliable, objective knowledge — or, as The Gospel Coalition puts it, "With the postmoderns we are skeptical that finite, fallible humans are the agents of truth" (Can We Know the Truth?, p. 12) — then the Bible is, on that account, simply in error when it assumes that witnesses can settle the truth of a matter. Under such skepticism, it would amount to a rule that witnesses cloud more than clarify whether or not something is true or false.
As we return to the sermon before us in Acts 2, Peter is now at the end of making his case
for Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. He has made the connection between David’s
prophecy of a Messiah whose body would not be subject to decay and Jesus of
Nazareth as risen by God from the dead. Then he makes the connection between
the outpouring of the Spirit they were all beholding (the fulfillment of Joel
2) and the exaltation of Jesus as the Messiah (2:33). That is, “Being therefore
exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise
of the Spirit, he [Jesus] has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing
and hearing” (2:33). Again, Peter goes back to King David, “For David did not
ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, ‘The LORD said to my Lord, sit at
my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’” (2:34) Then notice
how Peter delivers the conclusion of his argument: “Let all the house of Israel
therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this
Jesus whom you crucified” (2:36). So what begins with Peter’s “let this be
known to you” (2:14) and is marked by reminders of knowing throughout — “as you
yourselves know” (2:22), “I may say to you with confidence” (2:29), “of that we
are all witnesses” (2:32), “he has poured out this that you yourselves are
seeing and hearing” (2:33) — ends with, “Let all the house of Israel know for
certain” (2:36).
Given this plain evidence,
therefore, that the apostle Peter in Acts 2 and the other apostles in general
(including Paul) always spoke to unbelievers (or those who had no Christian
presuppositions) as if there was common ground for truth between them, it
clearly puts the apostles in a bad light — makes them in
effect what presuppositionalists pejoratively call: "modern
evidentialists," if presuppositionalists are correct in their
account of knowledge or truth. Moreover, if it dishonors the lordship of Jesus
Christ (as presuppositionalists claim — see Can We Know the Truth?,
p. 8) to relate to unbelievers as if there is such a neutral or common ground
for truth, then obviously the apostles routinely dishonored their Lord in their
way of reasoning with unbelievers.
2.
Presuppositionalism alters the task of evangelism such that the priority of presenting the apostolic case for Jesus as Lord takes a back seat to first persuading people to accept the general tenets of Christian belief.
In a sense, the Bible is
God’s case, fifteen hundred years in the making, for Jesus of Nazareth as Lord
and Messiah. God made this case for the whole world, not just believers. It is
true for everyone, understandable in some sense by everyone. Everyone,
presented with that case, is thus accountable to God in a way they
wouldn't be, if it had not been presented to them. This is part of the
rationale in Christ's command to take his gospel to all the nations. When
Christ appears, every knee will bow — not just those who are regenerate. At
that time, everyone will know (even the unregenerate) that Jesus is
Lord.
When Paul reminds the
Corinthian saints of the gospel that he had received and faithfully delivered
to them, what one reads is this very case God had made: “Christ died for our
sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on
the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to
Cephas, then to the twelve [and then to] more than five hundred brothers at one
time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep” (1
Corinthians 15:3-6). Indeed, with respect to this gospel, the apostles saw
themselves as stewards and messengers under God’s authority — not to “practice
cunning” or “tamper with” God’s case for Jesus as Lord (2 Corinthians 4:2) but
— to boldly and faithfully repeat that case to the nations (1 Corinthians
4:1-2; Ephesians 3:2; 1 Peter 4:10). Accordingly, the apostles did
not alter or play with that message — or deliver it as an afterthought. They
knew what they were supposed to say to people, right off, in obeying the Great
Commission. And they said it wherever they went. (Again, a study of the sermons
in the book of Acts makes this quite clear.)
In contrast, presuppositionalism undermines this faithful,
apostolic stewardship of the gospel by getting things backward —
that is, it argues first and directly for the tenets of the Christian faith,
as the framework for knowing in general and then indirectly for knowing in
particular that Jesus is Lord. In contrast, the apostles (as just
stated) make a public, argumentative case directly for
the conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth is Lord, thereby implying that the
tenets of the Christian faith will be embraced by people (as they devote
themselves to the apostles' teaching as in Acts 2:42) after they
are first persuaded of that conclusion. In any case, there is not a single
instance in Acts of an apostle first persuading unbelievers of the
tenets of Christian belief before making the case that Jesus is Lord.
3. Presuppositionalism adopts a
coherence rather than correspondence account of truth which is assumed in
Scripture and by our God-given, common sense.
A coherence view of
truth holds that “truth is what coheres with everything else we believe,” while
a correspondence understanding of truth is that “truth is what corresponds to
reality” [1]. Because presuppositionalism overstates the role of
regeneration and the Bible by claiming that these are necessary to
know truth at all (or objectively), it actually has a coherence view
of truth. When a presuppositionalist claims to support a correspondence account
of truth, this is justified by defining truth as “that which corresponds to
what the Bible says.” However, the father of presuppositionalism,
Cornelius Van Til, understood that presuppositionalism, technically speaking,
is a coherence theory [2]. He called it a correspondence account to
differentiate it from the coherence associated with modern idealism (from
Descartes to Kant) which viewed knowing as subjective, autonomous, and
man-centered. To be sure, Van Til also believes that since God alone
has knowledge of objective reality and has made, at least in part, that
reality known through Christ and Scripture, what the regenerate receive by that
means does indeed correspond to reality (at least, in an analogous sense).
It is important to recognize, nonetheless, that presuppositionalism has a “for
believer’s only” approach to truth which means that truth is entirely
presuppositional or perspectival in nature — that is,
presuppositionalism fundamentally supports features for knowing (the Bible made
known subjectively through regeneration) that begin first with the inside
(or the mind and its conditions for knowing), and then looks outward to assess
what it sees. This internal conditioning for knowledge is consistent,
therefore, with a coherence view of truth. Therefore, its claim that
truth corresponds to reality represents a philosophically non-orthodox
understanding of correspondence-truth and is actually (again, consistent with
modern epistemology) internal to a coherence view of truth that arose
historically in distinction (if not opposition) to a correspondence
view of truth.
4. Presuppositionalism is a
relatively new, twentieth-century doctrine, philosophical in nature
and unknown to the apostles and prophets through whom God gave us the
Scriptures.
Presuppositionalism is
foreign to Scripture and church history until the twentieth century, when
Cornelius Van Til (just mentioned) integrated modern philosophy and Reformed
theology in a unique manner. Since then it has become increasingly
popular, particularly, as a belief inseparable from what it means to be
appropriately “Reformed” (or Calvinistic) in one's approach
to communicating the gospel to unbelievers. However,
presuppositionalism would not have been possible apart from
philosophy — particularly, its idealistic, subjective, or
mind-centered proposals for knowing. The
latter means that truth is regarded as primarily mental or
perspectival in nature. Presuppositionalism accepts this aspect of modern
epistemology. Notably, on the other hand, it rejects what
idealism ordinarily entails, namely, man-centeredness. Instead of
that, presuppositionalism recenters knowledge in the mind of Christ
as made known to us by the Spirit and Scripture. In other words, Van
Til offers a Christian Reformed version of an idealistic epistemology (way of
knowing). However, as Christ-honoring as this doctrine seems to be, truth
is not primarily mental but extra-mental in nature, as is abundantly
clear based on what the Bible assumes and our God-given,
common sense. If we apply a right answer (which surely Van Til attempted
to do) to a wrong problem (invented
by modern philosophers), the result will be wrong — even
if clothed in (or recast by) Scripture [3]. It will also lead to a new
nest of problems (detailed here and throughout my posts).
5. Presuppositionalism, as a
doctrinal mixture of philosophy and Christian Reformed theology,
violates a cardinal principle which is perhaps most distinctive to that
theology, namely, sola Scriptura (or Scripture alone as the basis
for our faith and practice).
The question we must ask ourselves here is this: Is Scripture sufficient
for the Christian faith — or not? Are we getting the content of truth from
Scripture, while turning to philosophy for our concept of truth? Do we not
understand how the concept of truth can affect the content of truth,
even when it comes from Scripture? Does Scripture make the man or woman of
God complete — or not (2 Timothy 3:16-17)? Does not The
Westminster Confession declare that "the whole counsel of God
concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and
life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary
consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is
to be added [emphasis mine - jnp], whether by new revelations of the
Spirit, or traditions of men" (chapter one, section six)? If
philosophy, as applied or mixed with Christianity or Reformed
theology, is thus elevated in status as divine revelation in
some sense on a par with Scripture (let's say, as "general
revelation"), then the concept of truth will always be subject to the
experimental and ever-changing work of the philosophers. And what else should
the church be learning and mixing with the Christian faith from
philosophy, the various fields of learning, or other extrabiblical
sources? Do we now have, basically, two sources of revelation? Scripture
and human tradition? (That combination which Reformers like Luther
and Calvin rejected, particularly, as found in Roman
Catholicism.) Furthermore, did Jesus or the apostles ever concern
themselves with what the philosophers were saying? Did they ever appeal to what
the philosophers thought on any topic at all? Did Paul, who no
doubt knew much of what the various Greek philosophers believed —
including ideas similar to the mind-centered and
relativistic proposals for knowing associated with the modern
philosophers in that lineage from Descartes to Kant — ever show any
deference or the slightest concern for such things? Did he not,
rather, warn the church against the deceitfulness and captivity associated
with such (Colossians 2:8)? In another place, did Paul not warn us of
what passes for "science" or knowledge among worldly
authorities (1 Timothy 6:20-21)? In sum, John MacArthur wisely writes, "Whoever criticizes, questions, challenges, subtracts from or adds to the authoritative Word of God is ultimately undermining the divine authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and putting man, the creature, in a place of authority instead" (Why Believe the Bible?, p. 81).
6. Presuppositionalism
boldly recasts what the Bible says
is fundamentally a problem of sin as a problem of knowing.
Presuppositionalism changes what the Bible presents as a problem of sin
(which involves a certain level of successful knowing) into a problem of
knowing or epistemology (see, for example, Romans 1-3); this sets up its
apologetic need to first address the issue of knowing by convincing people of
the coherence of the tenets of Christian belief (point #3 above) so they
can know things in general and then know, in particular, that Jesus is
Lord. However, the Bible teaches that Jesus saves us from sin, not a
state of unknowing in general. The Scriptures make clear that we are born
again unto God — not knowing or intelligence in general.
7. Presuppositionalism claims that
apart from regeneration in Christ and the Scriptures people cannot know or
convey truth truly or objectively.
Presuppositionalism holds (elaborating on point #6 above) that due to human
finitude and the effects of sin on the mind there is a universal
problem for knowing itself — that is, apart from regeneration
and the Bible people cannot be agents for truth or serve the
important, biblical and civil role of witnesses (knowers of
interest) on behalf of truth. The latter is held to be true because,
again, presuppositionalism maintains that regeneration and the Bible are
the very conditions for knowing not only the gospel but truth in
general. This means that apart from the Bible we cannot know anything
truly or reliably. It also implies, at a minimum, that people who
are made new in Christ and have the Bible will far exceed in
knowledge those who are unregenerate and ignorant of the Bible in every
field of endeavor (such as, for example, doctors, lawyers, business
persons, teachers, construction workers, etc.). However, common experience
clearly indicates that this is not the case. Thus presuppositionalism overstates
the negative effects of finitude and sin in relation to knowing truth, as
well as, what regeneration and the Bible actually provide for truth.
The Bible assumes, on
the other hand, that people can know truth in an ordinary sense. Without
that assumption, the people of Israel could not have observed Moses's
test for identifying a false prophet (Deuteronomy 18:21-22). That is,
if what the prophet said did not come to pass, then, according to
Moses, that person was a false prophet. We may reasonably assume that
to make such a determination people would need to be able to know the
truth about what the prophet had predicted and the truth as to whether or not
the prophecy had come to pass. True prophecy is on a par with Scripture (as
God's Word), if not part of Scripture itself. In this case, a
prophecy is identified as true (or on a par with
or as Scripture) based on human reason and observation apart from
Scripture (since what potentially qualifies as Scripture is what is at issue). If
because of the negative effects of finitude and sin on
knowing, regeneration and Scripture provide the only conditions for
knowing anything truly, Moses's test would not have worked. That is, the
people of Israel did not in this case have prophecy or Scripture as a
standard (or condition for knowing) to determine whether or not a particular
prophecy was true or from God. Therefore, if "unaided reason" is
defined as "reason and observation apart from Scripture," the
people were commanded by God through Moses to use their "unaided
reason" to determine if a particular prophecy (and prophet) was
false.
Some say, as Van Til
did, that this problem of knowledge that unbelievers have is true “in
principle.” However, a comment like that is ambiguous. Notice that we wouldn’t
say that “in principle” an apple loosed from its branch falls to the ground.
Strictly speaking, of course, as a matter of “principle” (gravity) an apple
thus loosed does fall to the ground. But this is not how we use the expression
in question. What we generally mean when we claim that something is true “in
principle” is that in reality it is not always so or that there are
other principles or factors that must be accounted for. For instance, “in
principle” Christians are indwelt by the Spirit, while “in principle” they are
also indwelt by sin (see Romans 7 and 8). Hence, Christians do not always
behave righteously. If presuppositionalism’s qualification that the state of
unknowing the unregenerate have is “in principle,” does that mean that there is
another sense which “in principle” the unregenerate do know things in
general? And if the latter is true, does that knowledge have anything to do
with a common ground between believers and unbelievers both for presenting
and receiving the truth of the gospel? The point is that if the state
of unknowing which presuppositionalism claims for the unregenerate is
"in principle" only — that there is another
"principle" or sense in which such persons can know
truth truly — then it seems there could be "neutral facts" or
a common ground for truth between the regenerate and the unregenerate
(as is evident, again, in the manner in which the apostles reasoned with
the unregenerate in Acts). One cannot have it both ways: either people
can know things in some sense relevant to the argumentative and
public case God has made for the truth that Jesus is the
Messiah, or they cannot know things such that any such argumentative
case would be like speaking to people in an unknown
tongue.
Presuppositionalism in
its rejection of public truth (or common ground for knowledge between believer
and unbeliever) implies that on issues pertaining to civic morality
(such as, abortion or same-sex marriage) the public does not have the
appropriate presuppositions to understand biblical truth and, hence, that it
doesn’t make sense for the church to confront these issues directly and in a
public manner. However, when John the Baptist confronted Herod for living with
his brother’s wife or Jesus testified of the world that its deeds were evil or
Timothy (as tradition says) confronted an idolatrous parade with its
foolishness, did any of these men think that because the people they confronted
had the wrong presuppositions that it wouldn’t make sense to confront them with
the truth? We are living in a time when it is particularly important for the
church to be "the pillar and foundation of the truth" (1 Timothy
4:15). Sadly, the tendency both in and outside the church is "to
live and let live" — to be silent in the face of a
rapid cultural descent into evil. Truly, the fields are white unto
harvest. What if the Lord is calling his church to be a Daniel,
Elijah, or Stephen — a Peter or a Paul — but what the
church learns from its leaders is that it doesn't have a shared basis
for truth in speaking to outsiders? That if people aren't
Christians — or don't think Christianly — they won't understand what we're
talking about? Wouldn't that belief's influence, therefore, be more
consistent with silence rather than speaking — with a reed shaken by
the wind rather than a pillar and foundation for the truth?
9. Presuppositionalism
indirectly confirms the relativism of our age by affirming that truth is
relative to Christian presuppositions.
Presuppositionalism indirectly justifies the subjectivism and relativism
of our time by holding that the truth that Jesus is Lord is relative to
Christian presuppositions which must be embraced subjectively (through regeneration
by the Spirit to understand Scripture) before that truth itself can make sense
at all (that is, people need to believe in order to believe); hence, in
making such a claim, presuppositionalism implies that it embraces the broader
claim that truth itself is relative to one’s presuppositions, perspective, or
viewpoint. Consequently, when unbelievers say “no thank you” to
presuppositionalism’s relativistic offer (the “try it you’ll like it” approach)
of putting on Christian glasses to experience the world (and the possibility
that Jesus is Lord while they’re at it), they will go away perhaps feeling confirmed
in their own relativism saying to the presuppositionalists talking to
them “that’s your thing not mine” or, more pragmatically, “that may work
for you but it’s not for me.”
10. Presuppositionalism
burdens uneducated (and even educated) persons in the church
both here in America and throughout the world with
obscure problems about knowledge or truth that they are in no position
to understand or evaluate.
Presuppositionalism risks
introducing into the church, globally speaking (and particularly under The
Gospel Coalition's influence), speculative, complex, and controversial
problems from philosophy which most of its people (including pastors) are
not able to understand or evaluate. If, as Jesus indicates, our Father’s
good pleasure is to reveal the things of the kingdom to “babes” in
understanding (the uneducated; Matthew 11:25) and if, as Paul says, there are
not, by the world’s standards, many who are “wise” in the church (1 Corinthians
1:26) — or we might say: “up to speed on things philosophical” — then,
again, do we not risk (through a doctrine like presuppositionalism)
placing a burden on the church which, to borrow Peter’s words from a different
context, “neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear”? Whereas we
are surely warranted in affirming as a creedal statement the clarity of
Scripture (as The Westminster Confession of Faith does) pertaining to
“those things [in Scripture] which are necessary to be known, believed, and
observed for salvation” (chapter one, section seven), are we in like manner
prepared to say the same thing about the tenets of
presuppositionalism? Especially as we think of the large growth of the
church in non-Western parts of the earth (Africa, China, South America, etc.)
do we really think that indoctrinating them in Jesus's name to
embrace claims like “there are no neutral facts” or “because of finitude and
sin we cannot know truth truly” or “all knowledge is presuppositional” or “there
is no shared, objective ground for truth between Christians and non-Christians
that honors the Lord” — that they can understand claims like these? That we are
serving the global church well by introducing them to such speculative and
skeptical notions about truth? And where would they go in Scripture to
test such claims? Wouldn’t they have to go to the philosophers to really
understand them?
In addition, there have
always been philosophers who did not buy the idea that our knowledge of reality
is mind-centered (as the philosophers in the succession of Descartes through
Kant believed). One has only to note that in the late twentieth century and up
to the present time, the methodological aspect (its subjectivity and
mind-centeredness) of modern epistemology that Van Til accepted so as to
re-interpret it as a Reformed Christian thinker is now rejected by many
philosophers in our time. That conflict between realists and idealists
(or, since the terms have changed, externalists and internalists) is tilting
toward realism or externalism. Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga
believes the mind-centered construction of reality represented by modern
philosophers like Kant is itself (apart from any possible Christian
re-interpretation of it) completely wrong and incompatible with
Christianity. [4]
In Seeing Things as They Are (2015), John Searle calls this
notion that we can only know things as they appear and not as they
are “the bad argument.” He argues that that sort of
thinking amounts to “one of the biggest mistakes in philosophy in the past
several centuries.” [5] My point is, of course, that for his
presuppositionalism Van Til accepted an aspect of modern epistemology that has
been soundly discredited by respected philosophers. I mean, so as not to
be misunderstood: the view that our knowledge of reality is
entirely presuppositional, idealistic, or perspectival due to the
subjective nature of knowing itself is regarded by many
respected philosophers today as untenable. And even if
one clings to that view in the face of such formidable opposition, at
least it would seem reasonable (would it not?) to acknowledge that the introduction
into the church of a questionable doctrine like presuppositionalism — a
philosophically controversial and obscure matter — surely
warrants concern, if not reevaluation.
[1] Some mistakenly suppose
that this definition of truth as "what corresponds to reality"
originates from philosophy, is foreign to the Bible, and thus a threat to sound
Christian doctrine. Actually there is nothing philosophical about it.
It might seem different or technical in its wording to those who are
unfamiliar with philosophy, but the philosophers themselves recognize
this definition as a "naive" or common sense understanding
of truth — that is, what most people in all places and times mean
by "truth." Hence, a dictionary, for instance, will
typically define "truth" as "conformity to fact or
reality." Whether one says "conforms" or
"corresponds" or "matches" or "agrees with"
— it is all the same thing. Quite importantly, for Christians,
it is also what the Bible assumes as its definition of
truth. In Scripture and Truth ("The Biblical Concept of
Truth," pp. 287-298), edited by D.A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge, Roger
Nicole presents a comprehensive study (Old and New Testaments) of what the
Bible means by "truth" and concludes that it means "conformity
to fact." For instance, in the ninth commandment when God
commands Israel, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,"
he means (put positively) that we are to speak the truth or what conforms
to facts or reality concerning our neighbor.
[2] See, for example, A Survey of Christian Epistemology (chapter one,
sections 3-6), where Van Til explains that his view of correspondence is
not the traditional one, that is, not about an idea one may have and
its correspondence to what is "out there" in the world; rather, truth
is a correspondence between our ideas and God's ideas or, to express the same
thing, "truth is what corresponds to God's
self-disclosure in Scripture." Van Til's only complaint with the
coherence account of truth is that it is man-centered (or a law to itself)
and so has no place for the self-disclosure of God in Scripture as the
ultimate reference point for truth. But in terms of "the form of the
matter" (ch. 1, sect. 5; or what we might call the shape or
structure of knowing), Van Til clearly states that
an appropriate Christian epistemology actually "stands closer
to" coherence than correspondence. In sum, Van Til's
presuppositionalism gives us a theory of knowing that is neither a matter
of correspondence nor of coherence, as those terms generally are
understood in philosophy; however, if his theory is compared to either of
those, it is (by Van Til's own admission) more like coherence than
correspondence.
[3] Presuppositionalists use Scriptures like 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 and 2
Corinthians 6:14-15 to support the idea that there is no common ground for
truth between a believer and unbeliever. However (and as I argue at
greater length elsewhere in these posts), in these passages Paul was
obviously not integrating epistemological problems (of the sort
raised by modern philosophy) with Christianity. That sort
of interpretation has to be artificially read into (or imposed
upon) the text rather than found in it. 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 is written
to and about those who are regenerate (that is, the Corinthian Christians,
not the unregenerate in general); it concerns the inability
of "the flesh" or "natural man" to appreciate
(not understand or apprehend in any sense) the things of God about
which the apostle wanted to write. In addition, 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 is a call to the
people of God to be holy — to realize that, religiously and spiritually,
they had no common ground with idolators and their evil
practices. Christians share life in the Spirit with one
another but not with those who aren't Christians. Such a statement,
however, is a far cry from claiming that Christians have no shared ground (in
any sense) for truth with unbelievers.
[4]
Alvin Plantinga, The Analytic Theist: An Alvin Plantinga Reader, ed.
James F. Sennett (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,
1998), p. 331.
[5]
John Searle, Seeing Things as They Are: A Theory of Perception (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2015), pp. 10-11.
***
Ten Problems with
Presuppositionalism Revisited
1. Presuppositionalism denies
the biblical assumption of
the public nature of the truth of the gospel.
John
Frame: There are, of course, different kinds of
presuppositionalists. I cannot speak for all of them. I myself am closest to
Van Til and Bahnsen. I don’t believe that either of them said anything in
conflict with the public nature of the truth of the Gospel. It is clear that
Scripture refers to public events—the history of Israel, the events of Jesus’
earthly ministry, his cross and resurrection, the apostolic expansion of the
church. Many of these events were miraculous, and Scripture (as in 1 Cor. 15)
stresses the public nature of the events and the testimony about them. Van Til
always insisted that factual evidences were an important aspect of apologetics.
But of course he also insisted that these evidences be presented in the context
of a biblical epistemology, not as a conclusion of autonomous thinking.
Joseph
Partain: I did not question that presuppositionalism
recognizes in some sense the public
nature of the gospel. In my explanation of problem #1, I said that presuppositionalism’s
“for believers only” approach to relating the gospel to others denies its
public nature. For example, what makes an otherwise public joke private is that
there are people in the audience who don’t know something essential to the
punch line. Perhaps only a few people are in the know and thus able to get the
joke. Moreover, if one were to object to the private nature of such a joke, it
wouldn’t help to get the reply: “But the joke was told publicly.” One might even
say that compared to a private joke, things are even worse for knowledge in a
presuppositionalist’s denial that an unbeliever has what is necessary for
rational thought itself or any common ground for truth with a believer. At
least with a private joke, even those who aren’t on the inside have common
ground enough to know what was said, even if they don’t know what wasn’t said
that made the joke funny. Hence, a presuppositionalist views a presentation of
the truth of the gospel — however public it
may otherwise be — as more private
than the most private joke. It is only in the last sentence that the actual
issue problem #1 highlights is touched on: “But of course he [Van Til] also
insisted that these evidences be presented in the context of a biblical
epistemology, not as a conclusion of autonomous thinking.” What is meant by Van
Til’s insistence on “a biblical epistemology” and no “autonomous thinking” in
relation to evidences accounts for what I am identifying as presuppositionalism’s
non-public approach to the truth of the gospel. Put simply,
presuppositionalism’s claim that between a believer and unbeliever there are no
common or neutral facts means that there are no public facts — facts are relative to (or made private by) one’s presuppositions.
2. Presuppositionalism alters the task of evangelism such that the priority of presenting the apostolic case for Jesus as Lord takes a back seat to first persuading people to accept the general tenets of Christian belief.
John
Frame: I know of no presuppositionalist who fails to
present Jesus as a historical figure who taught, worked miracles, and rose from
the dead. Nor do I understand the contrast you draw between “the apostolic
case” and the “general tenets of Christian belief.” We can agree that the
gospel focuses on what Jesus said and did, and particularly his death and
resurrection. But in the present age, nobody should question the fact that we
must also set forth the biblical world view: creator/creature, revelation, etc.
Many people don’t understand the Gospel story, because they come at the facts
with an unbiblical epistemology. Paul says that Jesus’ resurrection is
validated by 500 people who witnessed the resurrection together. A powerful
piece of evidence, surely. But when you tell people that today, some will
reply, “ well, David Hume taught us that there is NO believable testimony about
a supernatural event; because it is always more probable that an event has a
natural explanation than a supernatural explanation.” At this point, the
Christian must say something about Hume, or general epistemology. We must make
sure that the evidence for Jesus must be understood on a biblical epistemology,
not a Humean or deconstructionist one.
Joseph Partain: What I mean by the
difference between the “apostolic case” and "general tenets of Christian
belief" is that there is a difference between making a case to the
public specifically for
Jesus of Nazareth as Lord (as Peter does in Acts 2) and
convincing that public to accept Christian or
biblical presuppositions (doctrines related to creation, the Fall,
redemption, etc.) as a precondition
for knowing things in general and ultimately for knowing Jesus is Lord in
particular. What one sees in Acts is that people were first convinced by the
case that Jesus is Lord (again, as in Acts 2:14-36) and then, having received
Christ, they devoted themselves to the apostolic teaching (as in Acts
2:42). In that way, the people of God gradually grew in their
understanding (2 Peter 3:18) so as to have truly Christian or biblical
presuppositions. Presuppositionalists put the cart before the horse.
3. Presuppositionalism adopts a coherence
rather than correspondence account of truth which is assumed in Scripture and
by our God-given, common sense.
John
Frame: Scripture and common sense do not accept a
“correspondence account of truth” as opposed to a coherence or pragmatic
theory. Scripture and common sense don’t endorse theories; rather they provide
part of the basis for theories. The correspondence theory is one attempt to
formulate the way we know things, but it is philosophically controversial. In
my Doctrine of the Knowledge of God (hence DKG) I argue that
correspondence, coherence, and pragmatics, in their best form, are not
incompatible with one another, and, indeed, reduce to one another. We cannot
tell what our ideas “correspond” to unless we have a system of ideas that deals
with various things including the concept of correspondence itself. But
certainly the correspondence theory is right in saying that our ideas must
align with the facts of the world.
Joseph Partain: “Truth” in our ordinary,
dictionary usage and in Scripture (see, for example, Roger Nicole’s “The
Biblical Concept of Truth” in Scripture
and Truth, edited by Don Carson and John Woodbridge) is defined not as
“what coheres with everything else we believe” (coherence theory) or as “what
works” (pragmatic theory) but as “conformity [or correspondence] to fact [or
reality]” (correspondence theory). The correspondence theory of truth is
distinguished from coherence and pragmatic theories in its attempt to make
interesting or philosophically viable what is otherwise a commonsense, naive,
or non-philosophical understanding of truth. Coherence and pragmatic theories
of truth, on the other hand, are in their pedigree philosophical through and
through. As such, they are interesting and do not need philosophical treatment
to be made so. In addition, these theories originated, significantly, because
of a prior rejection (or as alternatives) to correspondence. They assume,
contrary to a correspondence account, that we cannot have direct and verifiable
knowledge of reality. That is, if correspondence as an understanding of truth
is “controversial” (as you say), the controversy comes not from correspondence
itself — that is, from what most people have always believed about truth — but
from philosophical skepticism (such as what is behind coherence and pragmatic
theories of truth). As Bishop Berkeley says, “We have first raised a dust and then complain we cannot see.” Most of us all the time and the rest of us most of the time believe the air for truth is clear and the seeing is fine.
Now to focus for a moment
specifically on correspondence and coherence: it isn’t that there are no
coherence or pragmatic aspects to truth in a correspondence account, nor that
there are no correspondence or pragmatic aspects to truth in a coherence
account. However, the way one discusses these two theories of truth may well
differ according to whether one has a correspondence or coherence understanding
of truth. (It is apparent, for instance, that this answer to problem #3 derives
from coherence: “We cannot tell what our ideas ‘correspond’ to unless
we have a system of ideas that deals with various things including the concept
of correspondence itself.”) With that said, there is still life outside the
philosopher’s shade, as Hume reminds us. This is where everyone (including all but the most fanatical skeptic) lives and must
live, regardless of their theory of truth. This is where truth conforms to
facts or reality. It’s where we say this is true and that is false. It’s where
the Bible gets written, and Jesus is attested as the Messiah. And, finally, it
explains Peter’s lawyer-like approach in Acts 2 to presenting evidences for the
truth, again, that Jesus is Lord to people who didn’t have biblical or
Christian presuppositions. In conclusion, therefore, it is important to recognize that a correspondence understanding of truth has both a pre-theoretical and theoretical status, and that even in its theoretical status what is being philosophically justified is the same thing: the every day, common sense definition of truth as "conformity to fact or reality."
As for your statement that Scripture does not endorse theories, I believe we would agree
that Scripture does not have to have a theory
of history to have an account of history which says something significant about its nature.
The same is true of a theory of ethics or philosophy of
religion. Admittedly, the Bible doesn't approach its subject matter the way the philosophers do who generally begin and end with Man and human experience. (Van Til's major and righteous complaint against philosophy.) However, if one were to argue
that since Scripture offers nothing theoretical as history,
ethics, and religion, it must be subject to the problems and
directions of philosophy in those areas — fill the gap in that sense — we would agree, I think, that such a
person fails to fully honor the primacy or authority of Scripture as truth or knowledge. That is,
whatever philosophy does at the conceptual level in these fields does not give it authority
or precedence over Scripture, because Scripture doesn't handle its subject
matter as the philosophers do. Accordingly, to claim (as you do) that Scripture does not have a correspondence account of truth implies that Scripture reveals truth's content but not truth's concept (as if the concept of a thing does not hold considerable power over the status and shape of its content). And, it seems that, as you view things, this lack opens the way for philosophy to step forward and provide its various theoretical proposals for truth conceptually. With such a supplementation, we get the result of a hybrid of Christianity and philosophy identified in my problems #4 and #5. However, what I said about history is also true of truth itself: Scripture does not have to have a theory of truth to have an account or definition of truth which says something significant about its nature. Moreover, just as we would not bend to a philosophy of religion that is looking for some common denominator among religions to determine what religion is, why would we bend to a philosophy of truth that begins and ends with the human mind as if the fear of God is a non-factor? Now I know that Van Tilian presuppositionalism, aware of the problem of this man-centeredness, approaches an idealistic, mind-dependent knowledge of reality (what one finds among the most famous modern philosophers), surgically removes the human aspect of that dependence, and replaces such with the mind of the Christ (known through Scripture and a regenerate heart). But the problem is that knowledge never has been nor will be mind-dependent to the extent that Descartes, Kant, and other modern philosophers in the epistemological idealist camp thought. Furthermore, by remedying a wrong problem with a right solution in this manner, Van Til created something that Scripture doesn't recognize: the denial that the unregenerate have knowledge at all or have a common basis with the regenerate for truth which includes the role of evidences and facts to establish that truth.
4. Presuppositionalism is a
relatively new, twentieth-century doctrine, philosophical in nature
and unknown to the apostles and prophets through whom God gave us the
Scriptures.
John
Frame: The apostles and prophets were not philosophers,
so they did not develop philosophical theories of knowledge. But of course
later theological reflection legitimately tries to analyze and apply the
implications of what the apostles and prophets taught. So theologians talk
about the “Trinity,” though you will not find that term in the Bible. The
question is whether the idea of the Trinity is consistent with what the Bible
teaches and whether it helps us in understanding the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Same with epistemological theories. The Bible doesn’t mention presuppositions,
let alone presuppositionalism, but many of us have made the case that
presuppositionalism is helpful in formulating what is implicit in the biblical
doctrine, e.g. of revelation.
Joseph
Partain: Why weren’t the apostles and prophets philosophers? Why didn’t they at least make some effort to integrate the ideas
of the philosophers with what God had revealed in Scripture? A historical
review of Western philosophy clearly shows that modern and postmodern ideas
today — even if more advanced — are quite similar to ideas that go back to the
ancient Greek thinkers, such as, Plato, Pyrrho, Protagorus, and the Sophists. These
ideas would have been available to educated Jews in the time of Jesus and his
apostles. Paul certainly would have been familiar with such. Why did Jesus and the
apostles ignore the philosophers, except when having to deal with their errors?
Is it not because they believed Scripture (or special revelation) was sufficient
for their faith and practice? What am I saying? There was enough in the
philosophical tradition in the days of the apostles and prophets for them to
have devised a quite similar doctrine to presuppositionalism for apologetics in
their time. Yet they didn’t. One can’t even imagine the apostles and prophets
directing the church to consider what the philosophers are saying on this or
that matter. Surely what they didn’t do in that respect should carry more
weight with us today.
The more troubling aspect of this recognition that "the apostles and prophets were not philosophers" is an implication that these men weren't as sophisticated about truth as they could have been had they been philosophers. And when a presuppositionalist considers that Peter appealed to common evidences and facts in Acts 2, would this not seem to indicate that he didn't know the presuppositional nature of truth? And wouldn't Peter's confident use of evidence and reason in that same sermon qualify him as a "modernist" (as presuppositionalists say of one who makes such an appeal)?
As for comparing
presuppositionalism with the doctrine of the Trinity: presuppositionalism (as
reflecting a coherence view of truth) is simply not in the Bible the way the
doctrine of the Trinity is. The doctrine of the Trinity identifies and accounts
for what is there in many places of Scripture. Presuppositionalism, on the
other hand, first, denies in Scripture the presence of a common sense notion of
truth as what corresponds to reality (see my response under problem #3 above),
and, second, imports its own alien philosophical idea into Scripture, namely,
that we cannot know reality directly due to finitude and/or sin and must have
biblical or Christian presuppositions to have facts, truth, or knowledge in
general.
5. Presuppositionalism, as a doctrinal
mixture of philosophy and Christian Reformed theology, violates a
cardinal principle which is perhaps most distinctive to that theology,
namely, sola Scriptura (or Scripture alone as the basis for
our faith and practice).
John
Frame: Presuppositionalism seeks to show precisely why
and how we must base our teaching on Scripture alone. You may prefer
“correspondence” or “evidentialism” or “Classical apologetics.” But those
systems are no less philosophical than presuppositionalism, and they are no
less controversial. All of them go beyond Scripture in the LANGUAGE they use.
All of them seek to defend sola Scriptura. What presuppositionalism says about
sola Scriptura is that we should develop our doctrines in a way that renounces
autonomy and recognizes only Scripture as the foundation of human thinking.
Joseph
Partain: To clarify, problem #5 is speaking of the derivation or composition of presuppositionalism — not
the role presuppositionalism assigns to Scripture in relation to knowledge. The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms rightly defines presuppositionalism as "a philosophical approach to theology." Without philosophy (particularly Van Til's Reformed and interpretive appropriation of epistemological idealism) presuppositionalism would not exist. It is in that sense presuppositionalism violates sola Scriptura. As
for the claim, "presuppositionalism seeks to show precisely why and how we must base our teaching on Scripture alone," presuppositionalism may seem to honor Scripture in that way but there
is still a problem: Presuppositionalism teaches what Scripture itself does
not, namely, that without Scripture one lacks “the foundation of human thinking.”
Consequently, presuppositionalism simply goes too far. It exaggerates the Bible’s
own claim as truth. There is a significant difference between the claim that Scripture is
able to make us “wise unto salvation” (2 Timothy 3:15), and the claim that
without Scripture we have no basis to know anything.
6. Presuppositionalism boldly recasts
what the Bible says is fundamentally a problem of sin as a
problem of knowing.
John
Frame: No. Sin affects every area of human life,
including knowing. The fall affected the thought of Adam and Eve, not
just their actions. Evil actions, indeed, flowed from evil thoughts. So Paul
says that sinful man “represses the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1). The
Gospel reorients both our thoughts and our actions to serve Jesus as Lord.
Joseph
Partain: Again, my explanation of this problem clarifies
what I mean. I did not deny that sin affects the mind, nor would I hesitate to affirm
that “the Gospel reorients both our thoughts and our actions to serve Jesus as
Lord.” Rather, I said Romans 1-3 presents the universal problem of mankind not
as a problem of knowing or that people cannot know things in general. Paul says
nothing about how people have the wrong presuppositions, and, therefore, have
no basis for rational thought. Rather, he declares that all are under sin. The
Law, Paul says, was given to impart the knowledge
of sin (Romans 3:20). If one follows Paul’s argument closely, one observes that
he is calling attention not to what
people can’t know due to their wrong
presuppositions but to what indeed they
do know, namely, that they have not kept the Law. Whether it is the knowledge implied in the conscience
of a Gentile (Romans 2:1-16) or a Jew needing to confess the knowledge that having the Law hasn’t made him any less a sinner
than the Gentiles (Romans 2:17-29), Paul is concerned not with epistemology (again,
what people need to know anything at all) but soteriology (what people who know they are sinners need to be
saved). This shift from soteriology to
epistemology is particularly evident in Van Til’s expression: “we are born
again unto knowledge.” However, the gospel was not given by the Lord to be an
answer to a problem for knowing raised by the misguided, mind-centered knowing
of certain modern philosophers.
7. Presuppositionalism claims that apart
from regeneration in Christ and the Scriptures people cannot know or
convey truth truly or objectively.
John
Frame: Rom. 1 tells us that non-believers know God
clearly from the things he has made. So in fact they CAN know truth truly and
objectively. So Jesus commends the teaching of the Pharisees, telling us to
believe what they say, but not to do what they do. The problem is not so much
with their knowledge as with what they do with it. Paul says that these
nonbelievers “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” So that actually their
thinking is a mess. Sometimes the truth they know bubbles up, and they admit
it; other times they deny what they know deep in their hearts. Only
regeneration in Christ and the Scriptures can restrain this suppression of the
truth.
Joseph
Partain: If unbelievers or the unregenerate “CAN know truth
truly and objectively,” it would seem that (1) neither finitude nor the effects
of sin on the mind keep them from knowing things in general; (2) they can know
things that may not fit their presuppositions (that knowledge is not entirely
presuppositional); and, hence (3), they could be persuaded (for instance) by
the argumentative case Peter is making in Acts 2 — based on evidence and reason
— that Jesus is Lord. That is, if they can know truth “truly and objectively,”
would that not mean that there is, at least, some common or neutral ground for
truth or facts between a believer and unbeliever? If that is so,
presuppositionalism is no longer presuppositionalism. It is just a commonplace,
though helpful, insight that our presuppositions tend to influence (not wholly
determine) what we know.
8. Presuppositionalism weakens by
implication the church's public stance for truth.
John
Frame: On the “public stance,” see my answer to question
one. Since the events of salvation were public events, the apostles proclaimed
them in public. We should do the same today, and no presuppositionalist denies
this.
Joseph
Partain: Since I respond to this answer about the “public”
nature of truth under problem #1, I will elaborate a bit on this problem
itself. If due to an acceptance of presuppositionalism God’s people believe
that unbelievers don’t have the presuppositions necessary to know truth, then
there will be an understandable or logical tendency to be silent on matters
like abortion or same-sex marriage or other evils in society. To be sure, as
the church, we are not here to condemn the world. Our mission is to bring to
our world the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ who died for
our sins. Our mission is to love people into the kingdom. However, love includes
standing up for the truth and calling things what they are as God sees them or
as clearly set forth in Scripture. This includes defending truth when it is
under assault. On the other hand, if one is convinced that unbelievers don’t
even have a basis for rational thought — if they believe that truth is relative
to one’s presuppositions — then what sense would there be in speaking out
publicly on issues like those just mentioned?
9. Presuppositionalism indirectly confirms
the relativism of our age by affirming that truth is relative to Christian
presuppositions.
John
Frame: Not true. Presuppositionalism emphasizes strongly
that the Gospel is objective. Now of course, when someone comes to the Gospel
with ungodly presuppositions, he can make it look bad. In that situation (as in
the case of Hume, question 2 above) we insist that the objective truth must be
understood by the objectively true biblical epistemology. God has revealed in
history who Jesus is and what he has done. He has also revealed (objectively)
how we should think about it. It is not very helpful; to say that truth is
“relative to Christian presuppositions,” though with sufficient analysis that
statement can be affirmed. Better to say that truth is objectively fixed in the
mind of God, and that we must believe it as God has revealed it to us.
Joseph
Partain: I did not say there is no claim of objective truth
for the gospel in a presuppositional (or coherence) approach to the truth. But
what it claims as objective, however strong, is only as strong as an internal
or subjective coherence can bring to a belief system. A correspondence view
(whether non-philosophical or philosophical), on the other hand, is stronger in
its objectivity as a claim for truth, because it holds that truth is “out there”
and reliably knowable for everyone. Of course, a coherence approach denies there is any
such objectivity on those terms, but, I think, one who embraces that theory would have to admit,
nevertheless, that if there were, it would offer a stronger objectivity than a
coherence account of truth. It is also worth noting, here, that when I claim
that presuppositionalism holds that “truth is relative to Christian
presuppositions,” the answer, though qualified, ultimately comes back: “with
sufficient analysis that statement can be affirmed.” Hence, if “sufficient
analysis” is done such that this claim holds true, then what I state about how
presuppositionalism indirectly supports the relativism of our age would seem
also to hold true. So, as I’ve said elsewhere in these posts, when an
unbeliever who already believes that truth is relative says “no thank you” to a presuppositionalist’s proposal that truth is relative to a Christian worldview, they will walk away from that conversation all the more
confirmed in their relativism. What they need to hear, on the other hand, is that there is objective truth that everyone can know and on that basis God has made a case for the verdict that Jesus of Nazareth is Lord.
10. Presuppositionalism
burdens uneducated (and even educated) persons in the church
both here in America and throughout the world with obscure problems
about knowledge or truth that they are in no position
to understand or evaluate.
John
Frame: Presuppositionalism is no less philosophical or
technical than any other epistemology. It raises no problems that rationalism,
empiricism, correspondence, coherence, pragmatism don’t also raise. It just
answers those questions differently. It does not require uneducated people to
study philosophy. It only points out that anyone who wants to be a disciple of
Jesus must apply his lordship to all areas of his life. If you are a telephone
lineman, you should do that to the glory of God. If you are a homemaker, the
same. If you are a philosopher, then you should seek to do that to God’s glory.
But there is no reason why everyone must be a philosopher, any more than that
everyone should be a homemaker.
Joseph
Partain: My explanation of problem #10 clarifies what I
mean. First, as I explained under problem #3, the common sense understanding of
truth one finds in every day life and Scripture itself is not in itself,
strictly speaking, an epistemology. From that standpoint, it is not only less philosophical or technical than
other epistemologies, it is, indeed, not philosophical
or technical at all. When a witness is sworn in to tell the truth under a court
room proceeding, it isn’t necessary to ask the witness what epistemology he
supports. We know the difference between telling the truth and telling a lie.
Now if one were to ask that witness to define “presuppositionalism” or a
“coherence theory of truth,” it would be a different matter. A common sense
view of truth is mankind’s default understanding of truth. It requires no
philosophical justification. Consequently, to claim that all approaches to
truth are equally philosophical, controversial, or technical is to speak from
an incomplete and thus distorted account of our experience of knowing. Or: it
is to speak from within the whirl of dust the philosophers have raised, as if
there were no clear air anywhere. Second, problem #10 is not settled by a
vocational appeal, for instance, whether one is called to be a homemaker or a
philosopher. The point is that the homemaker and lineman are having to deal with
these things, particularly, if they are learning from their well meaning,
presuppositionalist pastor that their unbelieving neighbors don’t have a basis
for rational thought. Or they are taught that there are no “neutral facts” — no
common, objective ground for truth between them and their unbelieving
neighbors. Or that truth is relative to one’s presuppositions or perspective. If
they aimed to be noble as the Bereans, where would they go as they are
searching the Scriptures to see if these things are so? (I am thinking, in particular here, of the possible influence of presuppositionalism over the rapidly growing church in Africa, China, South America, etc.)
