Top 30 Apologetics Books (#12): William Paley, Natural Theology
By Rob Bowman | Plus, The Illuminating Work of the Holy Spirit
Quotable
For his part, God provides the resource for an obedient understanding of his truth: the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. A consequence of the Spirit’s presence in a believer’s life is the illumination of the Holy Spirit. That is, the Bible speaks of a work that God's Spirit performs in people once they have committed their lives in faith to Jesus as Lord. This internal capacity enables believers to perceive and apprehend spiritual truth, an ability unavailable to unbelievers (cf. 1 Cor 2:6-16; 2 Cor 3:15-18). This illuminating work of the Spirit does not circumvent nor allow believers to dispense with the principles of hermeneutics and the techniques of exegesis. That is, the Spirit does not reveal the meanings of texts "out of the blue,” as it were. Illumination refers to a dynamic comprehension of the significance of Scripture and its application to life that is uniquely available to those indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
Though we may possess an arsenal of methods and techniques with which to decipher the meaning of the biblical texts, interpretation falls short of its true potential without the illumination of the Spirit. Methods alone are not sufficient to understand profoundly and exactly the true meaning and significance of Scripture. And neither methodology nor the Spirit operates in isolation from the other. We need to see how methodology and illumination are linked.
First, consider whether one can depend solely upon the Holy Spirit for understanding the Bible apart from methods and techniques. The reasoning often goes like this: if the Holy Spirit inspired the original writers, then certainly the Spirit can unlock the texts' meaning without recourse to historical or grammatical study. C. H. Spurgeon (1834-92), England's best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century, countered such pretension with some advice to budding preachers in "A Chat about Commentaries":
Of course, you are not such wiseacres as to think of ways that you can expound Scripture without assistance from the works of divines and learned men who have labored before you in the field of exposition. If you are of that opinion, pray remain so, for you are not worth the trouble of conversion, and like a little coterie who think with you, would resent the attempt as an insult to your infallibility. It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others.
In the pulpit today this error may sound like this:
Dear friends, I have consulted no other books, human sources, or worldly wisdom. I have considered no commentaries. I have gone right to the Bible—and only the Bible—to see what it had to say for itself. Let me share with you what God showed me.
As Bernard Ramm, who invented a similar quote, observes, "This sounds very spiritual," but in fact "it is a veiled egotism" and a "confusion of the inspiration of the Spirit with the illumination of the Spirit." The Spirit's work of illumination does not impart new revelation. Unfortunately, some deeply spiritual people have declared some obviously incorrect interpretations of the Bible. Being indwelt by the Spirit does not guarantee accurate interpretation. Though we have no desire to diminish the Spirit's role, it does not work apart from sound hermeneutics and exegesis.
— William Klein, Craig Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr., Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, 3rd ed. (Zondervan, 2017), 206, 207 (footnotes omitted).
Note: Below, Dr. Rob Bowman continues his series on the 30 most important apologetics books in church history. See his earlier posts in previous weeks of Useful Things.
#12: William Paley, Natural Theology, or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity (1802)
As deism flourished and contributed in turn to the skepticism of Kant and Hume, apologists increasingly mounted their defense of Christianity on two fronts. On one front they countered the philosophical objections to the traditional cosmological and ontological arguments for God’s existence with detailed, empirically based versions of the teleological argument, or the argument from design. This line of argument was sometimes called physico-theology or, more commonly, natural theology. The specific theistic argument of choice became the teleological argument, or more simply the argument from design.
William Paley (1743-1805) presented a classic statement of this theistic argument in his Natural Theology. The book begins by introducing and elaborating on Paley’s famous analogy of the watch providing evidence of a watchmaker. The bulk of the book consists of a detailed discussion of the arrangement and functions of the various components of the bodies of animals and humans. Evidence from plants, the elements, and astronomy is also adduced. Paley argues that from the “contrivances” evident in nature, one may infer that God is one, personal, intelligent, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal, self-existent, spiritual, and good. In his conclusion he explains the purpose of this line of reasoning. Although he expects that most of his readers already believe in God, he suggests that when that belief is tested, it will be helpful “to find a support in argument for what we had taken upon authority.” Furthermore, studying nature in order to find evidence of God enhances our awareness of God’s hand in everything around us. Finally Paley urges that the proof of God’s existence furnished by natural theology should encourage us to be open to receiving as true whatever revelation God may choose to impart. “The true Theist will be the first to listen to any credible communication of divine knowledge.” By “credible” Paley means a revelation “which gives reasonable proof of having proceeded from him.”
For Paley, then, Christianity must prove itself to be based on an authentic revelation. This leads us to the second front of evidentialist apologetics: its appeal to history. Such proof is to be found, according to Paley and other likeminded apologists, especially in historical evidences for the central biblical events. Paley presented a classic statement of these evidences in his 1794 book, A View of the Evidences of Christianity. Yet it was his earlier book, Natural Theology, that endured as a classic of Christian apologetics throughout the nineteenth century. The rise of evolutionary theory eventually seemed to blunt the force of Paley’s argument—indeed, that seems to have been one of Darwin’s principal claims. Nevertheless, the design argument never went away. In fact, it has enjoyed a resurgence in the past thirty years in the light of evidence from the fine-tuning of the universe and the earth and from the information-laden nature of life itself for the existence of an intelligent Designer.
—Rob Bowman Jr.is an evangelical Christian apologist, biblical scholar, author, editor, and lecturer. He is the author of over sixty articles and author or co-author of thirteen books, including Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ, co-authored with J. Ed Komoszewski. He leads the Apologetics Book Club on Facebook.
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Book Highlight
*Unless otherwise noted, descriptions are those provided by the publisher, sometimes edited for brevity.
Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, now in its third edition, is a bestselling hermeneutics textbook that sets forth concise, logical, and practical guidelines for discovering the truth in God’s Word. With updates and revisions throughout that keep pace with current scholarship, this book offers students the best and most up-to-date information needed to interpret Scripture.
Introduction to Biblical Interpretation:
Defines and describes hermeneutics, the science of biblical interpretation
Suggests effective methods to understand the meaning of the biblical text
Surveys the literary, cultural, social, and historical issues that impact any text
Evaluates both traditional and modern approaches to Bible interpretation
Examines the reader’s role as an interpreter of the text and helps identify what the reader brings to the text that could distort its message
Tackles the problem of how to apply the Bible in valid and significant ways today
Provides an extensive and revised annotated list of books that readers will find helpful in the practice of biblical interpretation
Used in college and seminary classrooms around the world, this textbook is a trusted and valuable tool for students and other readers who desire to understand and apply the Bible.
William W. Klein (PhD, Aberdeen) is professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary. He is author of The New Chosen People: A Corporate View of Election and a commentary on Ephesians in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Revised Edition and serves as both editor and co-author of Introduction to Biblical Interpretation with Craig Blomberg and Robert Hubbard. Bill and his wife have two daughters and reside in Littleton, Colorado.
Craig L. Blomberg (PhD, Aberdeen) is distinguished professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of numerous books and more than 130 articles in journals or multi-author works. A recurring topic of interest in his writings is the historical reliability of the Scriptures. Craig and his wife Fran have two daughters and reside in Centennial, Colorado.
Robert L. Hubbard, Jr. (PhD, Claremont Graduate School) is emeritus professor of biblical literature at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. He is author of several books, including The Book of Ruth: New International Commentary on the Old Testament and Joshua in the NIV Application Commentary series and co-author of Introduction to Biblical Interpretation with William Klein and Craig Blomberg. He and his wife Pam reside in Denver, CO.
Reviews
“This readable and profound book covers all the important topics of interpretation with great skill. I am very excited about the publication of the third edition that takes into account recent scholarship. I recommend it to all who want to deepen their ability to read Scripture well.”
— Tremper Longman III, Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College
“For over twenty years Introduction to Biblical Interpretation has set the standard for evangelical hermeneutics textbooks. It is remarkably comprehensive, clear, accurate, and balanced. This third edition is most welcome.”
— Mark L. Strauss, Professor of New Testament, Bethel Seminary San Diego
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