Van Til and Knowledge
Many today are simply unfamiliar with one of the greatest Christian apologists of the 20th century, a man who has richly blessed the church with what some of his students have called “nuclear strength apologetics.” Being born a Dutchman from Grootegast in the Netherlands, Dr. Cornelius Van Til is the mind behind the famous apologetic method known as “Presuppositional Apologetics.” Perhaps you have heard about the man and his apologetic methodology, but have you heard about his theory of knowledge and how it operates?
Van Til’s Theory of Knowledge
Being a passionately Reformed Calvinist, Van Til believed in the supremacy of God in all things. Not only over man’s salvation but over every area of a person’s life, including knowledge. Van Til was adamant that God not only possesses all knowledge but that His knowledge is in a category of its own, i.e. creator knowledge. God’s knowledge is unique to Him, it is seen to be the fullness of knowledge, and therefore it is part of His very nature. Since then, God’s knowledge is categorically unique and independent from creation, no creature in this world can ever attain to such knowledge, for if they could, they would thus go from being a creature to being part of the Triune Godhead Himself, an impossibility according to Scripture (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 42:8).
Given God’s self-contained existence, Van Til wanted to affirm that any knowledge fact that can be known in creation (whether about God or the world) must first be a knowledge fact that is revealed by God to the world, what Van Til calls “analogical knowledge.” Analogical knowledge is knowledge derived from God’s own knowledge but always received on a creature level with creature limitations. Our knowledge as creatures made in God’s image is an imprint (a re-interpretation) of what God knows as the Supreme Creator. Therefore if there is any knowledge claim in this world that does not first conform to God’s way of thinking, it is by definition of it not being analogical to God’s own mind.
How it operates
The question then becomes: if all true and proper knowledge is a reflection of God’s own knowledge, how do we know what God thinks?
The Bible is clear that for us to know anything, God must first act in revealing knowledge to us (Proverbs 2:6; John 14:6a; Colossians 2:3). The Bible is also clear that God does this in two ways: through general and special revelation. Traditionally general and special revelation are seen to be two distinct modes of revelation that reveal to us two distinct things:
1. General Revelation reveals God’s eternal power, divine nature, and wrath against sin (Romans 1:18-20).
2. Special Revelation reveals how we can be saved from such wrath and come to know God as our Triune Savior (2 Timothy 3:15-17).
This is certainly a helpful distinction and one in which Van Til affirms. However, Van Til would also want to affirm that it is only when general & special revelation work simultaneously together that analogical knowledge can take place. In other words, it is only when special revelation (God speaking in Scripture) interprets general revelation (everything that exists in creation) when knowledge is justified, correctly known, and objectively true.
An example of this can be observed in the covenant made with Noah in Genesis 6. God’s wrath is made manifest through general revelation (the flood). However, God says to Noah that he and his family shall be spared by God’s saving grace (special revelation), but this special revelation was later revealed in and through God’s general revelation the rainbow (Genesis 9:13-16), therefore the special interprets the general. Likewise, God’s prohibition to Adam in the garden is seen as special revelation (God says), but the forbidden tree was apart of God’s general revelation (creation). What God reveals to humanity through his general revelation is only ever made intelligible through his special revelation. These two forms of revelation must always be in unison to one another if true and proper knowledge of God or the world is going to be attained.
Why we should care
Quite simply, if there is any fact in all of creation known by humanity but not first given by God in His revelation, then truth is a concept that is upheld outside of a Christian worldview. Truth would no longer belong to Christianity alone but to Muslims, JW’S, Mormons, atheists, and the like. Furthermore, the Triune God would no longer be seen as the comprehensive sovereign God over all things, but merely a kind of demi-god who is only partly in control of this world.
By humanity claiming autonomy in the realm of knowledge, it has attempted to reject its status as the creature in order to usurp the position of the Creator, which if we’re honest has never really ended well for us (Genesis 3:17-19). If any fact in this universe is seen to be true outside of the providential revelation of God, then creation is only seen to be partly owned and governed by God and not fully comprehensive of His divine providence and care. Humanity could claim independence in and of itself; which is an attribute Scripture gives to God alone (Exodus 3:14-15). Knowledge would no longer be analogical, but rather left up to our own individual interpretation of “what’s true for you is true for you…” Thus we would all be left in a subjective sea of irrational skepticism and unknown facts, a rather impossible way to live and operate in life.
Rhoison Harris
Rhoison currently serves as the associate pastor of Grace Bible Church in Holland
Park West, Brisbane Australia. He is a graduate from Queensland Theological
College, and he has just recently graduated with a post-graduate Master of Arts
majoring in Theology at Brisbane School of Theology. He and his beautiful wife Salli
are expecting their first child this December.