Knowledge and Certainty

Victoria: trekearth

Knowledge and Certainty

1 John 5:13

Those things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.[1]

The primary Christian concepts of a belief in Jesus the Son of God, and resulting everlasting life are presented in the verse.[2] Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible defines the Greek word ‘eido’ meaning know, as expressing the idea of being aware, to behold, consider, look, perceive, see, being sure, to tell and understand.[3] The idea of ‘eido’ here seems to be that Christians can be intellectually, reasonably certain that Christ was the actual historical Son of God, who was accurately portrayed in Scripture as atoning for the sins of humanity on the cross and being resurrected from the dead in order that those who believe in him can have everlasting life.

However, in my research of the problem of evil for my British MPhil and PhD dissertations, I have come across the idea from secular critics that Christians cannot know that the Christian faith is true, or certain, but rather that Christians should state that they believe Christianity is true. The question then arises, can we properly philosophically state that we know Christianity is true, and certain?

Prior to working on my British degrees, I was in agreement with my former theology professor at Trinity Western University that Christianity was certain; but we disagreed on exactly what this meant. He stated that we could know that the Christian faith was true and 100% certain. I disagreed with this point, not because I doubted the faith as true, or thought that any counter argument against Christianity was superior, but because I thought that 100% knowledge of anything, was solely within the attributes and intellectual ability of an infinite God. The secular critic of Christianity can correctly point out that one cannot be 100% certain that Christianity is true, but this is not a philosophical problem for a Christian because as a finite being, one can simply state that he/she has a finite ability to understand anything, even empirical events experienced by the senses. A finite ability to understand something does not make it an incorrect understanding. A finite understanding of knowledge also does not prohibit someone with God’s guidance from having limited but accurate understanding of various philosophies and believing in the ones that are true, in particular the Christian faith.

A definition of certainty which I would consider helpful would be along the lines of what I found in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. Peter D. Klein describes the Cartesian account of certainty as being that a proposition is true if there are no legitimate grounds whatsoever for doubting it.[4] I like the similar idea that a proposition is certain if there are no counter propositions that are superior. Therefore in regard to the Christian faith, and its belief in Scripture inspired by God, the atoning work of Christ, the resurrection, and everlasting life, these things could be viewed as certain provided there are no legitimate counter arguments that are superior. I believe that evidence shows Christianity is philosophically certain in this sense.

Edward Gettier has argued in ‘Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?’ that believing something is true does not make it knowledge because the person lacks sufficient conditions for knowing a proposition.[5] In other words, many true propositions would have been deduced as true, not by knowledge but by felicitous (fortunate) coincidence.[6] I can agree that finite human beings can deduce that something is true without really knowing it. As well, with the human lack of 100% knowledge of anything, it does mean that it is also possible that there could be conditions in existence not known and that a proposition that is held as true is really false. However, I do not think that Gettier’s argument should trouble those who view the Christian faith as certain because Klein points out concerning Gettier’s view that to many thinkers felicitous coincidence can be avoided if the reasons which justify belief are such that they cannot be defeated by further truths.[7]

Klein’s certainty concept in regard to felicitous coincidence is similar to the one described earlier from The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. In other words, if views are reasoned by deduction and evidence, they can be considered knowledge provided they are not countered by superior arguments. This does not require 100% certainty of anything, but rather an accurate understanding of conditions that would lead to the formation of propositions and arguments.

[1] New American Standard Bible (1981: 1394).
[2] The Greek word ‘aionios’ can be defined as either eternal or everlasting according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Strong (1986: 8). Eternal would be defined as having no beginning and no end, and everlasting would be defined as having a beginning and no end. Technically speaking in my view, only God is eternal and therefore alone has eternal life. However, some may view believers as sharing in God’s eternal life and therefore possessing eternal life, but I think it is more accurate to translate the verse with the idea that we know that we have everlasting life.
[3] Strong (1986: 31).
[4] Klein (1996: 113).
[5] Gettier (1997)(1963: 3).
[6] Klein (2005)(1998: 2-3).
[7] Klein (2005)(1998: 2-3)

GETTIER, EDMUND L. (1997)(1963) ‘Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?’, in Analysis 23, 1963, 121-123, Nottingham, England. Analysis 23.
http://www.ditext.com/gettier/gettier.html

KLEIN, PETER D. (1996) ‘Certainty’, in Robert Audi, (ed), The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

KLEIN, PETER D. (1998, 2005). ‘Epistemology’, in E. Craig (ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, London, Routledge.

STRONG, J. (1986) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Pickering, Ontario, Welch Publishing Company.

THE NEW AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION BIBLE (1984), Iowa Falls, Iowa, World Bible Publishers.