The Scriptures tell us, ‘The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”’ (Psa. 14:1). By contrast, we find it is “The fear of the LORD” that is “the beginning of wisdom” (Psa. 111:10) and “the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7). Unbelief is folly, but to genuinely revere with holy dread the Lord God Almighty is the very foundation – the chief principle – of true knowledge and wisdom. This, the faithful church of the Lord Jesus proclaims to a world convinced of the ultimacy of human reason. Many of our unbelieving neighbours insist that ultimate truth can be found independently of God; that man can of his own native powers of intellect, penetrate the deepest mysteries of existence. Such is the hubris of those who, by worldly standards, are now deemed wise.

This is the third of a series of articles in which I am reflecting on the relationship between the natural sciences and the Christian faith. It is no secret that modern science is a largely pagan enterprise, carried out by those who say in their hearts, “There is no God.” And yet, as I have acknowledged, the scientific enterprise has accomplished great wonders. I have even encouraged Christians to accept, though not uncritically, science as a legitimate tool for understanding the material world, as a logical outworking of the Christian worldview. But how can we do this, while understanding the total depravity of fallen man? If knowledge is not founded upon the fear of the Lord, how can it be anything but folly? In this article, I hope to offer some reflections on the effects of the fall on human reason.

In the beginning, “God made man upright” (Eccl. 7:29) but this state of original righteousness was not to last. Now, in man’s fallen state, “none is righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10). Every man is now conceived in a state of sin, and this impacts every aspect of his being, including his knowledge and intellectual faculties. One passage that describes this impact in detail is found in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. The Apostle Paul writes that God has revealed himself to mankind. Specifically, God has revealed his “eternal power and divine nature” (v. 19) in creation such that it is “plain to them” (v. 19) and “clearly perceived” (v. 20), leaving men “without excuse” (v. 20) for unbelief and idolatry. Theologians call this ‘general revelation’, meaning the knowledge of God and of spiritual realities that God makes accessible to all. A clear implication of this is that man’s reason was not wholly lost in the fall. Otherwise, nothing true could ever be “perceived” in “the things that have been made” (v. 20). Of course, no one perceives these truths independently of God because it is God himself who “has shown it to them” (v. 19). Indeed, nothing ever happens apart from God. But by what means does God reveal himself? In this passage, Paul does not speak of immediate knowledge, implanted miraculously into the mind, but a knowledge mediated through creation which is then “perceived”. Perception is an act of the mind, and though we understand this perception is enabled and empowered by the power of God, it is nonetheless a human act. So, in this way Paul acknowledges that all have a genuine knowledge of God (v. 21), but this truth has no spiritual benefit to fallen man. Instead, the truth is suppressed “by their unrighteousness” (v. 18). Because of sin, obvious truth is cast aside: “they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (v. 21). Sin causes the “thinking” or reason of fallen man to become “futile” or useless. Indeed, “claiming to be wise, they became fools” (v. 22) and “exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (v. 25). What is abundantly clear from this passage is that sinfulness ultimately prevents us from thinking rightly about God. In our fallen state, we will always find ways to reject the terrifying truth of who God is and the obedience we owe him, in favour of lies that comfort us in our rebellion. Sin makes us irrational and foolish, at least on spiritual matters.

An interesting illustration of how the suppression of truth can play out is suggested by Paul’s sermon in the Areopagus in Acts 17. Speaking to pagan Greeks, Paul quotes from two of their own poets (Acts 17:28), identified by commentators as Epimenides of Crete and Aratus. Paul clearly means to affirm the truth of both quotations, as applied to the true God he is proclaiming. Yet in their original contexts, those quotes explicitly refer to Zeus, the king of the gods in Greek myth. I think Paul recognises a clear vestige of general revelation in these quotations. The “eternal power and divine nature” of the true God was indeed plain to the ancient Greek writers, as it has been to all since the creation of the world. Thus, we see once again that the fallen reason of man can actually perceive truth. General revelation does not fail, or else the pagans could not be “without excuse”. And yet, this truth is supressed and made futile, not in this case by outright rejection, but by its twisting and misapplication. By applying these truths to a finite, anthropomorphic false deity like Zeus, they truly “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man” (Rom. 1:23). After giving these quotations, Paul tries to correct this misapplication with the exhortation that “we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man” (Acts 17:29). In the end, some mock, remaining in their fallen ignorance, but some by the grace of God believe and are saved.

Paul has more to say on these matters in 1 Corinthians, where he contrasts worldly false wisdom with genuine Godly wisdom. Paul tells us that he was sent by Christ to preach the gospel, “not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power” (1 Cor. 1:17). Paul does not want to win converts with what would appear wise to the unbelieving mind, but by the simple proclamation of the Gospel, “so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:5) Indeed, we find that, “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (v. 18). Why would the Gospel seem absurd to unbelievers? “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). Spiritual matters must be “taught by the Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:13). In the Gospel, God has “made foolish the wisdom of the world” (1 Cor. 1:20). “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25). Paul clearly does not mean to say that there is any actual folly or weakness in God. Rather, what is called by sinful men “folly” and “weakness” in the Gospel is far wiser and far stronger than even the best wisdom and strength they themselves possess. True Godly wisdom is given to the spiritually mature: “Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory” (1 Cor. 2:6). Thus, there is a great chasm between the “wisdom of God” and the “wisdom of the world”, one given by the “Spirit of God” and the other by the “spirit of the world”.

So, what implications does this have for our interaction with secular science? At the very least, we should be prepared to exercise great caution. What we have seen from Scripture has been concerned primarily with how sin affects our apprehension of spiritual truths. Romans 1 is concerned with how fallen men supress the truths of God revealed in nature (general revelation), and 1 Corinthians 1-2 deals with the inability of fallen men to understand truths revealed in the Gospel (special revelation). It is true that the natural sciences, by definition, are only concerned with natural things. We might therefore be tempted to say that the sinful heart would simply have no reason to “supress the truth” about these things. While I think there is truth in this, we must not draw too sharp a distinction between the natural and the supernatural. How we understand creation is determined, in large part, by how we understand its Creator. When we reject the Creator, we inevitably get creation wrong. There are many questions we could ask about nature, and investigate scientifically, that would have direct implications for our understanding of God. On any of these matters, man’s fallen reason will be wholly untrustworthy.

Even where the theological implications of a particular scientific question would be remote, the practice of science is inevitably tainted by man’s fallen nature. Adam in Eden was created finite in mental capacity, and thus capable of making honest mistakes. Modern scientists, now fallen, are even more susceptible to such weaknesses. We can misread instruments, mislabel samples, and make any number of incorrect observations and errors of logic. Unconscious bias can also play a role in conducting and interpreting experiments, even where efforts are made to avoid it. And sadly, scientific fraud is well-documented reality. Desire for status and wealth, not to mention simple laziness, can lead scientists to fabricate or manipulate results. Human reason and human science are thus very fallible indeed.

While acknowledging the fallibility of science, we must also acknowledge it is not always in error. As we have seen, unbelievers are actually capable of perceiving truth in some capacity. Pagans are even capable of reasoning from nature to truths about God, though such truths are inevitably supressed in various ways. Much more, in earthly matters, can we all know that two and two add to four, that magpies are not butcherbirds, and that the sky is blue. This ability is not independent of God, as the unbelievers like to imagine. Just as our Father in heaven “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt. 5:45), he also graciously provides to all mankind faculties of observation, ingenuity, and reason. Indeed, if he had not done so, our species would have died out long ago. The fact that science succeeds at all is a testimony to common grace, and the kindly providence of God. For sinners who misuse the gift and turn it to evil purposes, it works ultimately to increase their guilt and incur wrath for the final judgement, but the gift is no less good because of this. So, unbelievers can indeed achieve knowledge, limited and fallible though it may be. They can find cures to terrible diseases, plot the orbits of the stars, and uncover the intricacies of the living cell. John Calvin, writing in Institutes of the Christian Religion, remarks:

“Therefore, in reading profane authors, the admirable light of truth displayed in them should remind us, that the human mind, however much fallen and perverted from its original integrity, is still adorned and invested with admirable gifts from its Creator. If we reflect that the Spirit of God is the only fountain of truth, we will be careful, as we would avoid offering insult to him, not to reject or condemn truth wherever it appears. In despising the gifts, we insult the Giver.”

(Book 2, Chapter 2, Section 15)

I think these things should humble us in our pursuit of truth. While practicing careful and prayerful discernment, Christians should eagerly embrace truth wherever our Lord has been gracious to give it, giving thanks for it all. And yet, in the end, whatever earthy knowledge is achieved by unbelievers, we know that in Christ only “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3) and in him alone we place our final trust.