Grace Bible Church Gillette, Wyoming

1. A believer’s mind is being renewed not only according to Scripture, but ultimately to the mind of Christ (1Co 2:16). The mind of Christ is the spiritual mind of the believer through the indwelling Holy Spirit. The believer’s mind is able to combine spiritual thoughts (1Co 2:13) and make spiritual examination of all things (1Co 2:14-15). This includes spiritual understanding of the blessings in Christ (1Co 2:9-12 cf. Ep 1:3).

2. Since believers have the mind of Christ, they must set their minds on the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Col 3:1-2). Inevitably, the believer’s thoughts are focused on the character of Christ, doctrine of Christ, and the program of Christ, present (Col 3:5-10) and future (Col 3:3-4).

D. To Love the Lord We must Discern Truth with our Minds

1. The believer must understand that there is a battle for the mind. He must not only know Christ’s truth (Jn 14:6; Jn 17:17), but be able to detect and oppose falsehoods (2Co 11:3; 1Ti 6:3-5; 2Ti 3:6-9).

a) God has always directed His people to be on guard against false teaching (Dt 13:1-5; Dt 18:20-22; Mt 7:15; 2Co 11:13-14; 1Ti 4:1; 2Pe 2:1; Jude 1:4).

b) The early church had to refute false beliefs and worldly philosophies.

(1) Judaism (Ac 13:27-28; Ga 1:13-15)

(2) Judaizers (Ga 2:4, 12; 3:1; 5:12; Ac 15:1-2)

(3) Gnosticism (1Jn 2:22-23; 4:1-3, 15)

(4) Worldly Philosophies (Ac 17:19-29)

2. The believer must learn that there are no contradictions in God, His truth, and His Word (Ps 31:5; Ps 117:2; Nu 23:19; Tit 1:2; Heb 6:18; Ps 119:142, 160).

a) Truth

(1) Pilate asked, “What is truth” (Jn 18:38). Truth (alētheia) is the “real state of affairs” or reality.

(2) Since God is truth, reality comes from the Creator and His nature.

(3) All wisdom, truth, and reality are found in Him (Col 2:3).

b) Logic

(1) Logic comes from God since He reasons according to His truth (Is 1:18).

(2) Logic is correct reasoning according to truth, i.e. God’s truth.

(3) We must have logical minds to understand God, His Word, and to make logical arguments.

c) Law of Non-Contradiction

(1) The Law of Non-Contradiction is also based on God and His nature and is a main principle of Logic.

(2) God cannot deny Himself or His truth (2Ti 2:13). God will never lie or contradict Himself (Nu 23:19; Tit 1:2; Heb 6:18) and neither will there be any contradictions in His Word (Ps 119:142, 160).

(3) The Law of Non-Contradiction states that something cannot “be” and “not be” at the same time and same respect.

d) Logical Fallacies are incorrect ways of thinking or reasoning that can plague unbelievers and believers.

(1) Popularity Fallacy - “The majority of scientists believe in evolution, so must be true.”

(2) Straw Man Fallacy - “Christians are intolerant because anyone who disagrees with them will go to Hell.”

(3) Begging the Question Fallacy - “What is the probability that life could arise by chance? It must be 100 percent because we’re here, after all.”

(4) True Scotsman Fallacy - “No true scientist believes in Creationism. Some scientists do. Yes but they are not true scientists.”

(5) Multiverse Fallacy - “Since there are an infinite number of universes, it is more probable that a planet would be life-permitting. That planet happens to be our planet.

3. The believer must comprehend and explain truths from his Christian world-view and must be be able detect and explain errors in false world-views (1Pe 3:15).

a) Defend the faith - “defend” (apologia - legal term to make a verbal defense, Eng. apologetics)

b) Christian worldview - A worldview is the philosophical perspective on the world which includes our origin, God, moral values, and actions. Only the Christian worldview is based on God’s Word and is the true perspective.

c) We must know and be able to logically argue our Christian worldview especially in regard to the Bible, Trinity, historical Jesus, miracles, creationism, and salvation.

4. When the believer is able to articulate the distinction between the Christian world-view and other world-views, he is able to influence his culture rather than culture influencing him. Paul stated that Christians are to destroy “speculations” (logismos - reasoning, thought) against the knowledge of God (2Co 10:4-5) and bring every “thought” (noēma - scheme of thinking) to the obedience of Christ.

a) Expose False world views

(1) Since all other worldviews are not based on God’s truth, they contradict God’s truth. In addition, all other worldviews will be self-contradictory.

(2) Believers are told to bring down the false reasoning of man’s speculations and worldviews. This is done by showing that the false worldviews are in contradiction to God’s Word and to show that they are self-defeating.

(3) When defending our faith, we are not to abandon the use of Scripture. Otherwise, we would be sharing in the same folly as the false worldviews (Pr 26:4).

(4) When defending our faith, we are to show that false worldviews are self-defeating. Otherwise, they would be “wise in their own eyes” (Pr 26:5). Self-refutation is showing that false worldviews do not stand up to their own truth claims.

b) Examples of Self-Refutation

(1) Relativism - “There are no absolutes.” (Is that absolutely true?)

(2) Hume’s Skepticism - “We must be skeptical about everything that is not empirically verified or true by definition.” (Is that statement empirically verifiable or true by definition?)

(3) Kant’s Agnosticism - “We cannot know anything about the real world.” (Can we know that agnosticism is true?)

(4) Science/Naturalism - “Only natural science can verify truth.” (Can that claim be verified by natural science?)

5. It is in this way that the believer will be able to “prepare his mind for action” and “be ready to make a defense (1Pe 1:13; 3:15). In addition, the believer will be able to understand truth and the will of God (Ep 5:17; Ro 12:2), serve God with a willing mind (1Ch 28:9), and love Him with all his mind (Mk 12:30).

Grace Bible Church · 4000 E. Collins Rd · PO Box #3762 · Gillette, WY · (307) 686-1516