Knowledge with Zeal: Biblical Examples of Using God-Anointed Intellect in His Service
Application and Implications for Christians Today
In assessing the lives of the men studied here, it is evident that all of them were men of great intellect and spiritual passion. They were all well educated, even if it must be admitted that in the case of Daniel, and perhaps Moses, their studies may not have been their personal choice.
But not everything in their education was designed to lead them to God. Neither the Egyptians nor the Babylonians took the God of the Jews seriously. In Paul’s case, much of what he learned in Judaism had to be jettisoned when he came to Christ. They had to critically analyze what they were taught in light of God’s revelation, retaining that which was biblical or at least did not violate Scripture, while rejecting that which was unbiblical. The evidence is clear that they did so. For this they needed an intellect touched by the Holy Spirit. This is critical for modern thinkers as many of today’s ideologies (and not a few theologies) are far from Christ centered. In dealing with these issues, one must know how to think and reason, not simply what to think.
Justification of Liberal Arts Education
The lives of Moses and Daniel reveal how they used their education to glorify God through writing the Pentateuch and through administrating government competently and honestly. Their lives provide ample justification for a Bible-based, Christ centered liberal arts education that calls for the development of a Christ-like mind in every area of life including the arts, the sciences, or politics. Nañez calls for a return to studying philosophy and the sciences, pointing out that many fathers of modern science were devoted Christians and gives some outstanding examples.37 His call is a little late, as is evidenced by the abundance of liberal arts courses in Pentecostal Bible schools and universities that predate his comments by several decades, but it is on the mark.38
Harry Blamires contends that everything in human experience, whether sacred or secular, can be thought about from a Christian point of view.39 In politics, for example, William Wilberforce was an example of an outstanding Christian who used his intellectual powers for the glory of God. Serving in the English Parliament in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, he was one of the driving forces in outlawing slavery in the British Isles, as well as having a moralizing influence over many areas of national British life.40
Nañez also calls for the sanctified use of reason and logic, using these mental tools in doing theology and especially in the art of apologetics.41 Nañez’s book is culture bound, however, dealing only with issues related to Western, particularly American, Pentecostals. He advocates the reading of Western philosophers, whose writings, he believes, should be studied for one’s intellectual development.42 Would he also endorse reading the Confucian classics, the sacred books of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and other ideologies that are dominant in various parts of the world today? One would presume so in the interest of apologetics for those living in those cultural milieus. Knowing the ideologies of one’s cultural context is important to communicating the gospel.
Category: Biblical Studies, Spring 2008
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