By William
MacDonald
Intellectualism
is a peril in every age of the Church but for some reason it seems to be posing
a special threat in evangelical circles today. Whenever we make such a
statement, some one rises to the defense with the cry, “What do you want us to
do? Throw our minds away?" That, of course misses the point. The intellect
is a God-given faculty and should be exploited to the full. But the danger
comes when human reason is exalted above the word of God. Intellectualism can become
a subtle form of idolatry when man's mind rather than the Bible becomes the
authority. The best use of the intellect is to "take every thought captive
to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5) We should
test our thoughts by God's Word, and not vice versa.
There are
certain distinctive marks of intellectualism as it exists in the evangelical
world today. First of all, there is an exaggerated
regard for what is called "scholarship." But what is meant by
scholarship? When you investigate you find that it is almost invariably
connected with the possession of certain postgraduate degrees. If you check
more thoroughly you will find that many of these theological degrees were
granted by universities that are not particularly noted as bastions of the
Christian faith. The truth is that in order to get degrees with status in the
theological world today you have to go to colleges which are pest-houses of
infidelity. You get the status you ought alright, but what a price to pay. The
second mark of modern intellectualism is the tendency to be more concerned with
what the prominent theologians have said than what the Scriptures are saying.
If you know what Barth, Tillich,
Niebuhr, and such men have said you are intellectual.
If you only know what the Bible teaches, you really don't have the proper
credentials. I am sick to death of remarks and magazines that rehash the
pompous sayings of these theologians. I often feel like crying out with the
Apostle Paul. "Do ye set those to judge who are of no account in the
church? I say this to move you to shame” (1 Corinthians 6:4.5).
Closely
linked with this lust for intellectual status and this preoccupation with noted
theologians is an increasing esteem for men of liberal persuasion. Separation
has become a naughty word; the "in" word is cooperation. Men like
William Barclay are quoted and courted. It was Barclay who said, "Jesus
was the end and climax of the evolutionary process." Concerning the
account of the fruitless fig trees he wrote, "The story does not ring
true. To be frank, the whole incident does not seem worthy of Jesus. There
seems to be a certain petulance in it." In his
book an Luke, Barclay writes, "The man who walks
with God can say, 'I am the master of my fate, I am the conqueror of my soul.' " Perhaps one of his most brazen handlings of God's
Word is in the way he explains away the raising of Lazarus. Yet it is men like
this who are honored by the "intellectuals" today.
There often
seems to be a more tolerant attitude toward modernists than toward those who
are sneeringly called "fundamentalists." Too often there is an
attitude bordered an contempt for those whom God has called, that is, the
foolish, the weak, the bare, the things that are despised, and the things that
are not (1 Corinthians 1:27-28). Have we become oblivious to the fact that the
humblest believer, taught by the Spirit of God, can understand the deep things
of God whereas the most scholarly unbeliever has a native incapacity for
knowing them? (1 Corinthians 2:14)
Modern
evangelical intellectualism also seems unaware of the fact that the gifts God
has given to the church are charismatic, not professional. The idea is abroad
that only these with professional training are qualified to minister the Word.
There seems to be a mounting disinclination to listen to men who, like John and
Peter, are uneducated, common men (Acts
1. Though
not universally true it is often an undermining of the inspiration of the
Scriptures. These men do not speak with the conviction of the Reformers. They
use weasel words to hide their wobbly stance.
2. An evasive position an
Genesis 1-3. When there seems to be a conflict between the Bible and science,
we see a worry-some leaning toward the voice of science and a pathetic attempt
to dilute the words of Scripture until, as Spurgeon said, there is not enough
left to make soup for a sick grasshopper.
3. A noncommittal policy an prophetic matters: "My mind isn't made up an that as
yet." Yet they can be quite vehement in their stand against dispensationalism, against pretribulationism,
and against premillennialism, which creates a
distinct impression that their prophetic position is more definitive than they
wish to say.
4. A tendency to give naturalistic
explanations for Bible miracles. A well-known evangelical scholar, for
instance, has gone on record with naturalistic explanations of all the plagues
in
5. A propensity to take a slap at
typological interpretations but before long the baby is thrown out with the
bath.
William
Kelly once wrote: "There are no men less to be trusted than mere scholars,
because, being scholars, they are naturally apt to be proud of their
scholarship; and whatever we are proud of is always the very thing in which God
will humble us."
I am
persuaded that the type of intellectualism we have been discussing is sterile
and devoid of power. What we need today is Christians who have a thorough
knowledge of the English Bible and Spirit-filled men who can preach with such
power that wherever they go, something will happen for God.