Lux Lucet

Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

One of the key points of Gordon Clark’s Scripturalism is that we are just as dependent on God for knowledge as we are for salvation.

Those in the Reformed community, at least those who are actually Christians, will readily admit that salvation is by grace alone, through belief alone, in Christ alone.

But oddly, many of the same people are sound on the doctrine of salvation at the same time hold to a theory of knowledge (epistemology) that is at odds with their view of salvation.

It is not uncommon to hear some Christians talk as though there are two sources of knowledge, revelation in the 66 books of the Bible and sense experience (empiricism).

This admixture of revelation and sense experience in Christian thought can be traced back to Thomas Aquinas. John Robbins explains,

Thomas Aquinas, the great thirteenth-century Roman Catholic theologian, tried to combine two axioms in his system: the secular axiom of sense experience, which he obtained from Aristotle, and the Christian axiom of revelation, which he obtained from the Bible. His synthesis was unsuccessful. The subsequent career of western philosophy is the story of the collapse of Thomas’ unstable Aristotelian-Christian condominium (An Introduction to Gordon H. Clark)

One of the problems with Protestantism over the centuries is that it never produced a philosopher who challenged Aquinas’ theory of knowledge. As a result, Aquinas’ erroneous synthesis of “the secular axiom of sense experience…and the Christian axiom of revelation” was accepted by large segments of the Christian church.

But in the 20th century, there appeared something new under the sun. Gordon Clark in his various writings successfully pointed out the logical failings Thomas’ synthesis. But Clark’s work not only was destructive, it also was constructive. He argued that in place of the Thomistic view combining sense experience and revelation, that the consistent Christian view of knowledge makes it a gift of God.

Rather than accepting the secular view that man discovers truth and knowledge on his own power using his own resources, Clark asserted that truth is a gift of God, who graciously reveals it to men (ibid.)

In Clark’s system, the theory of knowledge is consistent with the Biblical view of salvation, both are entirely the gift of God.

That knowledge is a gift of God can be found throughout Scripture. One place this principle can be seen is in Daniel.

Chapter 2 of Daniel provides us with the account of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and his conflict with the Chaldeans. Scripture doesn’t give much is the way of back story to the events in Chapter 2, but apparently Nebuchadnezzar not had good past experiences with the Chaldeans, the wise men, the soothsayers who were his court advisors.

So to test them, Nebuchadnezzar told them of a dream he had, but did not give the details of it. Instead, he demanded that the Chaldeans not only tell him the interpretation of the dream, but to relate to him the actual dream itself.

The Chaldeans knew they were being put on the spot and objected to the terms. After some back and forth, they finally said to Nebuchadnezzar, “It is a difficult think that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it [Nebuchadnezzar’s dream] to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”

As odd as this sounds, the pagan Chaldeans, at least in this particular instance, demonstrated a better grasp of the theory of knowledge than some Christians. They readily admitted that they had no way of knowing what the king’s dream was, and that the only source of such knowledge was the gods themselves.

Nebuchadnezzar was not one to be put off. Upon hearing the Chaldeans answer, Scripture relates that, “the king was angry and very furious, and gave the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.”

The king sent the captain of his guard, a man named Arioch, to carry out his command. And as this was taking place, Daniel asked Arioch what was going on. And when Arioch told him, Daniel went straight to the Nebuchadnezzar to request time. The king granted Daniel’s request, and he and his companions prayed to God for an answer.

As the Bible tells us, “then the secret [of the king’s dream] was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.” Scripture records Daniel’s prayer for us.

Blessed be the name of God forever and ever…

He gives wisdom to the wise

And knowledge to those who have understanding.

He reveals deep and secret things…

You have given me wisdom and might,

And have now made know to me what we asked of You,

For You have made known the king’s demand.

The next day, Daniel went before the king, not using his own knowledge or wisdom, but that which was granted him by God. Daniel’s words were,

The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is s God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made know to king Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.

Note well what Daniel says about the source of revelation, it comes from God alone. Daniel continues,

But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.

Daniel emphatically denies that he discovered the knowledge of the king’s dream by his own efforts. It was the gift of God, both to save those who were being killed at the king’s command and to convey the meaning of the dream to the king.

In summary, knowledge (correct understanding) and wisdom (correct application of knowledge) come from God alone, not from the heart of man.

One caveat is in order here. as to what I am not saying. By citing Daniel’s words, I do not mean to imply that Christians today receive revelation in the form of night visions from God. Christians today have the full revelation of God in the form of the 66 books of the Bible, which are every bit as much revelation as was Daniel’s dream.

But what we do see in this instance is a very clear example of Gordon Clark’s epistemology: revelation alone furnishes us with knowledge.

As a final point, this account from Daniel proves beyond a doubt that sound theory leads to sound, even to life saving, practice.  Many Christians may be tempted to tune out a discussion about the theory of knowledge, because it doesn’t seem to have any practical value.  But it saved the lives of Daniel, his companions, and even the wise men of Babylon who had failed to answer the king.  And that’s not nothing.