Come Now Let Us Reason Together

Before I go any further, let me just say that I’m well aware there will be those who disagree with some, and perhaps even all, of what I write here. Each of us must choose for himself the path he will walk, and then reap the blessings or consequences. That decision will be based to a large extent upon ideas, which we must either receive as truth or reject as error. The process of reasoning together over Scripture is one of God’s means by which we may sort out the one from the other. If this doesn’t conform to your concept of spirituality, I’m sorry to disappoint. It is, however, the nature of the thing.

Reason has fallen on hard times in many Christian circles. Some well meaning believers would argue that regarding the intellect somehow clouds spiritual insight and dulls the soul’s ear to the voice of the Holy Spirit. The world has indeed exalted the human mind to a level of idolatrous devotion. And, it must be acknowledged that among the churches there are those who revel in the ability to out debate all comers. Guess what – fallen human nature perverts stuff. If the hand of the natural man touches it, even the Scriptures themselves cannot escape. But man’s perversion makes no less good what God has begotten for His people.

Rather than quench the Holy Spirit, prayerful reason attunes the believer’s mind to His. Reason is merely the ordering of our thoughts – a frail imitation of our Heavenly Father’s majestic mind. God is the great architect of order, calling forth form and harmony out of chaos. He is orderly in all His thoughts, works, and purposes. Creation declares it. His Word confirms it. The absence of reason in our thought life is the absence of order. The absence of order is confusion, of which we know God is not the author. Reject reason embrace confusion.

When the Lord, through His prophet Isaiah, invited Judah to reason with Him concerning their sin, the word He used indicated a dispute between two parties for the purpose of resolving their differences (Isaiah 1.18). If in some point or other you discern error in what you find here, I invite you to reason with me that we may resolve the differences between us and together come to the truth.

God has provided direction for such a dispute between believers. There were many competing ideas floating about in the New Testament churches, just as there are today. In Ephesians 4, we find that believers were being “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine.” God told them (and tells us) to “come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” by “speaking the truth in love.” The goal is to build up one another, not tear down. When we shun out of fear what the Lord has given for our good, we reveal that in our hearts we distrust Him and think ourselves wiser.

In Proverbs 27:17 God tells us, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” When iron strikes iron there is a loud noise and occasionally sparks. Let’s not let these tokens of animation frighten us. With self set aside, they simply show that we are earnestly engaged in a pursuit of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, AND mind! Let us, therefore, rejoice when any idea (ANY idea), no matter how dear to our hearts, is shaken and falls to the ground. For God’s truth is unshakeable. May we ever seek together with other believers the sure, firm, and stable footing of the King’s highway, for our good and His glory.