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136 How Can We Know the Christian Scriptures Are True?
Similarly, it would have been illuminating to hear some of Paul’s
missionary preaching, because, according to Luke, he had an interesting
custom: “Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath
days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving
that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the
dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ’”
(Acts 17:2–3). So Paul believed that “reasoning” and “explaining and
proving” were legitimate and fitting ways to lead a person to wellfounded
faith.
Luke explicitly praises the Jews in Berea because when Paul taught
them new things, they tested them: “Now these Jews were more noble
than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness,
examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts
17:11). They believed they had good grounds for trusting the Scripture.
So other claims to truth had to be in line with that truth.
One might ask, “Well, are you saying, then, that knowing and believing
are the same thing?” No. Believing, in the saving sense, always
includes the heartfelt embrace of what is believed; knowing doesn’t
always include that. Nevertheless, it is important to see that believing
and knowing are not alternatives in the New Testament. Belief is based
on knowledge and leads to deeper knowledge. Jesus prays concerning
his disciples, “Now they know that everything that you have given me is
from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they
have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from
you; and they have believed that you sent me” (John 17:7–8).
Pointing in the same direction, Paul writes to the Corinthians, “We
believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord
Jesus will raise us also with Jesus” (2 Cor. 4:13–14; cf. 5:1). And in
John’s first epistle, he bears witness to “that which we have seen with
our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands,
concerning the word of life” (1 John 1:1). So we can see that his faith
is grounded in real evidence, and he can say, “We have come to know
and to believe the love that God has for us” (1 John 4:16).
So, when Jonathan Edwards says that saving faith must be based on
“real evidence, or upon that which is a good reason, or just ground of
conviction,” he is saying what the Scriptures themselves say.