Paid Subscribing Members | The End Time Chronicles | Dr. Stephen Phinney | Visit DR. JAMES FOWLER: Soul Rest (Part 7)Christians of the Western world, in particular, are steeped in the Aristotelian logic of attempting to explain God intellectually.
Dr. James Fowler is one of the leading authors on the believer’s union with Christ. He has written 20+ books on the topic. He is a theologian, Board Member of IOM America, and dear friend of Dr. Stephen Phinney. He is the founder of Christ in You Ministries. We hope you are blessed by his series, “Soul Rest.” SOUL REST IN THE MINDWith rational philosophical and theological syllogisms they seek to explain the infinite with finite reasoning, thinking that if they get everything categorized and systematized logically, they can then "rest" in their precise definitions and intellectual explanations. Seldom do they recognize that their rationalistic reasoning produces constant unrest, for "the more you know, the more you know you don't know."
The mental machinations of scholastic theological research often ends up in the "analysis paralysis" of a cerebral logjam that makes Christian religion into "reasoned insanity." Man will never find "rest" in the unending attempts to figure out God and His ways.
Christians of the Western world, in particular, are steeped in the Aristotelian logic of attempting to explain God intellectually. With rational philosophical and theological syllogisms they seek to explain the infinite with finite reasoning, thinking that if they get everything categorized and systematized logically, they can then "rest" in their precise definitions and intellectual explanations. Seldom do they recognize that their rationalistic reasoning produces constant unrest, for "the more you know, the more you know you don't know." The mental machinations of scholastic theological research often ends up in the "analysis paralysis" of a cerebral logjam that makes Christian religion into "reasoned insanity." Man will never find "rest" in the unending attempts to figure out God and His ways. Wait, there’s more… The "deep things of God" (I Cor. 2:10), the "ways of God are past finding out" (Rom. 11:33). Western man has such a difficult time with the "unknown," the incomprehensible, the unsearchable; with dialectic that cannot be resolved with synthesis; with Divine Mystery that involves infinite reality that cannot be explained with finite reasoning. Since the time of the so-called "Enlightenment" in the eighteenth century, when human reason was deified and elevated to the highest arbiter of understanding, humanistic rationalism has reigned supreme in Western thought. God's response has long been, "'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord.
God graciously allows the theologues to engage in their academic gymnastics until they run into the wall of the outer reaches of human understanding, and then seek to find rest from their rationalistic reasoning. I know from personal experience. My natural tendency was to formulate a "believe-right" religion with all the correct doctrines and Biblically accurate exegesis. My personality was suited to theological fundamentalism. As a student of biblical hermeneutics, biblical theology, systematic theology, dogmatic theology, and the philosophy of religion, I set out to get God figured out - exhaustively evaluated, fixed in formulation, and boxed up in theological categories. Then, I ran into the dead-end of human reasoning, agnostically admitting that I could not know it all, and questioning whether I could know anything - even whether God existed. That was indeed a time of unrest! But, praise God, He led me towards soul-rest in the mind through spirit-union with Jesus Christ. Intellectual knowledge of informational content is not the way to soul-rest. Paul explained to the Corinthians, "Knowledge makes arrogant. . .If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if any one loves God, he is known by Him" (I Cor. 8:1-3). Better to be known by God, than to claim to know anything. Knowing all the details of scripture and theology will not provide soul-rest in the Christian life. On the other hand, the "knowing" of personal and relational intimacy with God is essential to soul-rest. Paul's exclamation to the Philippians reveals his awareness of this kind of "knowing." "I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,.that I may know Him." (Phil. 3:8-10). The relational knowing of an intimate relationship with the living Lord Jesus is of far greater value than a Ph.D. in any subject. The informational explosion of the modern era makes so much knowledge available, but leaves man in the unrest of his inability to know it all. There seems to be a God-given desire in man to seek for truth. But when truth is sought in propositions, proposals, and precepts it is never enough. It never leads to soul-rest. The deepest sense of Truth can only be found in a Person. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (Jn. 8:32). "The Son shall make you free, and you shall be free indeed" (Jn. 8:36). "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (Jn. 14:6). Truth is a Person - Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate reality. Man seeks wisdom. "Where is the wise man"(I Cor. 1:20), who can solve all our problems, Paul asked rhetorically, and then explained that "in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God" (I Cor. 2:21). The writer of Ecclesiastes admits, "I set my mind to know wisdom,. but I realized this was striving after wind" (Eccl. 1:17), "for even at night my mind does not rest" (Eccl. 2:23). Also recognizing the vanity of human wisdom, Paul wrote, "Let no man deceive himself. If any man thinks he is wise in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise. The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless" (I Cor. 3:18,20). Like truth, wisdom is found in a Person, for "Christ Jesus became to us the wisdom of God" (I Cor. 2:24,30). To know Jesus Christ, not just to "know about" Jesus Christ, but to know Jesus Christ in an ongoing relationship of spiritual revelation and intimacy, is to have wisdom that the world knows not of. James, the Lord's brother, wrote,
The mind of man is never going to figure out life and all its complexities. No amount of human reasoning is going to solve the problems of the world or the insecurities of our human lives. The "deep things of God" (I Cor. 2:10) are discovered not by human reason, but by divine revelation. Soul-rest is only experienced when we are willing to go beyond human logic and accept the mysteries of Theo-logic; when we concentrate on spiritual realities that are invisible and unseen, rather than on naturalistic observation. Paul noted, "We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (II Cor. 4:18). Soul-rest comes when we desire to know only what He wants us to know - all else is peripheral. Soul-rest in the mind is experienced when we are content with revelation, rather than reason. Mental AttitudesEvery individual has developed a full set of established attitudes in his mind. We have attitudes about things, events, ideas, God, other people, ourselves, etc. How were these attitudes developed? (1) By the recommendation of parents, educators, religious instructors, and the input of society via the media and enculturation. (2) By observation and experience, whereby we reflected on what we found acceptable and suitable. (3) By the revelation of God in natural phenomena (Rom. 1:19,20), the incarnation of the Son (Lk. 10:22; Gal. 1:16), the written record of the scriptures, and the personal revelation that God gives to Christians. Personal revelation is particularly important for the development of Christian attitudes that coincide with the attitude of Christ. "Have this attitude in you which was in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5), Paul admonished, and then in the same epistle, "Have this attitude (of pressing on to know Jesus), and if you have any other attitude God will reveal it unto you" (Phil. 3:15). As noted above, much of religion shies away from this ungovernable concept of personal revelation. Personal revelation is the primary means of our being "transformed by the renewing of the mind" (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23). This renewal of established attitudes in the mind is not a task that we strive to figure out and formulate, but is the work of the Spirit of Christ revealing Himself in the process of our discipleship as followers and learners of Christ. Where does this "transformation" take place that is accomplished by the "renewing of the mind"? Not in the spirit of man, for Paul was writing to Christians in Rome who had already experienced the spiritual transformation of regeneration. The "renewing of the mind" allows for a "transformation" of behavior, as thoughts and attitudes consistent with "the mind of Christ" within our spirit become the springboard for mobilizing God's character expression within Christian behavior. A particularly important area of our established attitudes is the attitude we have concerning ourselves. Many Christians seem to have a very negative attitude about themselves. They have self-denigrating, self-deprecating, self-condemnatory attitudes that identify themselves as "worms" before God, as useless, as amounting to nothing. Paul did indicate, "If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself" (Gal. 6:3), but this is just a warning against prideful self-elevation and exaltation. To the Philippians, he wrote, "With humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself" (Phil. 2:3). And to the Romans, "I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith" (Rom. 12:3). The flip-side of "thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think" is "thinking less of ourselves than we ought to think." If a Christian views himself as a worthless liability to God, then he is failing to take into account the glorious asset that has been invested in him, his spiritual identity wherein "it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). A positive personal concept of who we are in Christ allows us to "rest" in a confident sense of well-being that is cheerful, upbeat, and optimistic. Apart from such a consciousness of our identity in Christ there will be an attitude of inferiority that brings unrest. On the other hand, we must beware of spiritual pride that can develop among those who understand their spiritual identity in union with Christ, and because they "have the mind of Christ" (I Cor. 2:16) have experienced the intuitive "inner knowing" of revelation. Such Christians are tempted to develop a Gnostic and elitist sense of "knowing" that looks down its nose at those they deem to be at a lower level of spiritual "knowing," or who cannot articulate their spiritual understanding as they do. The words of James are pertinent: "If any one thinks himself to be devoted, and yet does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's devotion is worthless" (James 1:26).
The meaning of this proverb has been much debated. Does it mean that a man's identity is established by his thinking? Though Descartes' statement, "I think, therefore I am," posited human thought as the basis of our existence, we cannot accept the essentialism that suggests who we are is based on how we think. Neither should we give way to a behavioral determinism whereby having entertained a thought, we cry out, "Oh no, I am a murderer, a thief, a rapist." Fleeting thoughts sometimes flood our mind, but these are the solicitous thoughts of the tempter, whereupon the living Word of Christ will divide between the "thoughts and intents" of our heart (Heb. 4:12). Neither do a man's thoughts portend a potentialism whereby the mind is the creative source of human action. The "positive thinking" of Norman Vincent Peale, and the subsequent "possibility thinking" of Robert Schuller are based on the humanistic premise of auto-generation or self-actualization. "What you can conceive, you can achieve. Visualize and actualize. Reckon and realize." These are the fallacious mottoes of the self-potential gurus who fail to understand the derivative function of man. The proverb of Solomon most likely means that "as a man thinks or reckons within his soul, so he is in the behavioral expression of the spiritual character that indwells him." Jesus stated it more clearly, "The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil" (Matt. 12:35). The Christian has "this treasure (the indwelling Lord Jesus Christ) in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves" (II Cor. 4:7). Our thoughts become the point where behavior is put in motion and mobilized, or transformed into action. Established attitudes and thought patterns allow the Christian to behave as who he has become in Christ, allowing the character of Christ to be re-presented in his life. On the other hand, inconsistent thoughts allow for the mobilization of behavior that is a misrepresentation of the character of Christ, i.e. sinful. This interpretation of behavior expressionism is apparently the import of the proverb. Soul-rest in our minds will be a result of keeping a unified perspective of our spirit-union with Christ. A "separated concept" of disunion will never allow for resting in His sufficiency, but will always provoke the pressures of performance to please God. As we appreciate and affirm that "we have the mind of Christ" (I Cor. 2:16) within our spirit, we can draw from the revelation of His Theo-logic in our thought processes. Paul's words are so instructive: "The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace (rest). Those who are according to the Spirit, set their minds on the things of the Spirit" (Rom. 8:5,6). "Set your minds on things above, not on the things of the earth" (Col. 3:2), Paul advised the Colossians. To the Philippians he wrote, "Whatever is true, honorable, right, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and worthy of praise, let your minds dwell on these things" (Phil. 4:8). But "setting our minds" on divine things is not something we "work" to maintain.
Isaiah declared, "The steadfast of mind Thou will keep in perfect peace" (Isa. 26:3). "Perfect peace" might be interpreted to be synonymous with "soul-rest." Some, however, misinterpret "steadfastness of mind" to be the necessity of conjuring up a continual Christian consciousness in every waking thought, and they engage in an inordinate striving to "keep focused" on Jesus. In a strict surveillance of every thought, they seek to allow their minds to think only of Jesus, and to think only the thoughts of Jesus. There is no rest in that - only a relentless self-policing of one's thought life. A healthier understanding of "steadfastness of mind" is the steadfast recognition and awareness that "we have the mind of Christ," and that Christ is our reason, our knowledge, our doctrine, and our teaching. As we live out of that union awareness, the intents of our heart will be the expression of the character of Christ in every circumstance. In the midst of varying situations our psychological minds will align with the mind of Christ within our spirit, and in our wills we will make the continuing faith decision that says, "Yes, Lord, I want what You want." We do not want to imply by our statements about living beyond human reason in the reception of divine revelation, that the Christian should espouse any form of anti-intellectualism that refuses to use the mind and employ the reason that God has created us with. We just refuse to deify human logic, and instead make the faith-choices to be receptive to Theo-logic and God's action in our lives. Peter tells us to "gird our minds for action" (I Peter 1:13), and this will involve exploring the options and making plans. "The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps" (Prov. 16:7). Soul-rest in the mind of the Christian frees us from thinking that we must figure out and know everything. It allows us to be content with knowing only what God wants us to know. Resting in the recognition that the living Lord Jesus is "the truth" (Jn. 14:6), and has "become our wisdom" (I Cor. 1:30), we desire to "know Him" (Phil. 3:10) relationally, and allow Him to direct our thoughts by personal revelation. We do not cease from thinking, but only from thinking that our mental knowledge is the source or guide for acceptable Christian behavior; remaining available instead to the "renewing of the mind" (Rom. 12:2) that allows the character of Christ to be mobilized in our behavior.
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