Is Faith Blind?
Biblical faith rests on God's trustworthy character, His public acts in history, and the eyewitness testimony He preserved.
Summary
Christian faith is not belief without evidence. God calls people to trust His Word because He cannot lie, and He has acted publicly in creation, Israel's history, fulfilled prophecy, Jesus' miracles, the cross, and the resurrection. The apostles distinguished eyewitness testimony from invented stories and invited examination of what they proclaimed. Faith receives this true testimony and entrusts the believer to the living Christ it identifies.
Trust Built On God's Truth
Every act of trust depends on what is believed and whether the speaker is reliable. Scripture gives faith the strongest possible object: the truthful God who acts in history.
God Gives Public Reasons
Moses appealed to what Israel had seen and heard (). Isaiah distinguished the LORD from idols by His power to announce and accomplish what would come (). Jesus pointed to His works as testimony to His identity ().
These appeals do not reduce faith to a laboratory formula. They show that God does not praise credulity. He reveals His character through words and deeds that belong together.
The Apostles Invite Investigation
Luke says he traced events carefully through eyewitness sources so his reader could know their certainty (). Peter denies following cleverly devised myths and identifies himself as an eyewitness of Christ's majesty (). Paul names witnesses to the risen Jesus, including more than five hundred at once, most still living when he wrote ().
| The New Testament presents claims anchored to named people, places, rulers, journeys, trials, and a public execution—not a private feeling beyond examination. |
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Trust Goes Beyond Sight
Jesus told Thomas that those who had not personally seen the risen Lord would also believe (). He did not ask Thomas to approve a contradiction; He gave him the risen Christ and then spoke of later believers who would receive the apostles' reliable testimony.
Hebrews describes faith as assurance concerning realities not presently seen (). Unseen does not mean unreal or unsupported. No reader watched God create the world or stood in the empty tomb, but God's revelation gives true knowledge of both.
Support
- Saving Faith: shows how warranted belief becomes personal reliance on Christ rather than bare information.
- : states Luke's historical method and purpose of giving certainty.
- : joins the signs witnessed by the apostles to belief and life in Jesus' name.
- : preserves an early resurrection proclamation and a list of witnesses.
- : contrasts eyewitness testimony and prophetic Scripture with invented myths.
Questions
Didn't Jesus Praise No Evidence?
No. In , Jesus blesses those who believe without personally seeing Him, and John immediately says he recorded Jesus' signs so readers may believe. The contrast is between direct sight and reliable apostolic testimony, not between evidence and none.
Is Trusting Scripture Circular?
Scripture's own authority is final because no higher authority can certify God, yet its claims are not isolated from reality. Its many books form one redemptive story, identify public settings and witnesses, fulfill earlier promises, and center on Jesus' death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit opens the heart to receive the Word He inspired; He does not ask the believer to call falsehood true.
May Christians Ask Questions?
Yes. Scripture commends examining claims by God's Word () and testing everything while holding fast to what is good (). Honest questions should lead to patient investigation and obedient response, not become an excuse to delay what God has made clear.
What Does The Evidence Require?
It requires more than admiration. If Jesus rose, He is Lord, His gospel is true, and His call to repent and believe carries God's authority. Evidence leads to Christ; saving faith receives Him.
Sources
- : records Luke's appeal to eyewitness transmission and careful investigation.
- : explains the relation between witnessed signs, written testimony, and later faith.
- : identifies the gospel's historical center and resurrection witnesses.
- Ligonier Ministries, Faith and Evidence: summarizes the historic Christian agreement that faith and reason are not enemies.