When I came to the Lord as my personal Savior as a young adult in 1977, I believed myself to be very limited in terms of intellectual capabilities or potential, such as are involved in the proper understanding of written material of any degree of complexity. Yet I wanted to understand what God was teaching in his Scriptures. I titled this article, Intelligence and Christian Faith because it was God who provided me with the abilities I was asking of Him so I would understand His Word and be able to explain it to others.
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
(Psalm 27:8, ESV)
One day I read a passage of Scriptures that said that it is God who gives wisdom to the wise and understanding to those who have understanding. My French language Bible used the French word “intelligence” for “understanding,” and I took it to mean that God provides one’s mind with the abilities one would otherwise be lacking to comprehend what God’s Word, and God’s teaching, is all about. Based on this interpretation of things, I said to God that if He wanted me to understand His Word, He would absolutely have to make me capable of doing so, for it would otherwise not be possible for me to get it.
I consider that Christianity removed a barrier that would otherwise have prevented me from believing that I could one day achieve what I had to heart to know through systematically and regularly reading the text of the Bible for myself through the years. As I applied myself to understand as best I could what I was reading, I made progresses that would otherwise not have been within my reach. Also, God helped me through His Spirit, but He also helped me through His Word to believe He would intervene. This had a mobilizing effect upon me for several years until it had become and felt natural for me to study the Bible and whatever other text I wanted to understand, no matter how complex.
The original version of article may be read at : Intelligence et foi chrétienne (French).
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Translation provided on August 25, 2017.
Comments opened on January 5, 2018.
Research Key Words: Christian Faith; Intelligence and Christian Faith; Intelligence; Understanding; Intellectual capabilities.