Is this a valid dichotomy?
There is something that bothers me about it, but I just can't put my finger on it. It's as though one can really separate the mind from the heart. I'm not sure that this is a Biblical dichotomy.
I understand what those who use these terms are getting at – basically, it's a matter of just having knowledge and/or assent versus having knowledge, assent AND trust. Knowledge is a matter of knowing facts, assent is believing that those facts are true, and trust is believing that those facts are true for me. So I can know the historical fact that Jesus died on the cross, believe that he really did die on the cross for the sins of the world, but it does me no good until I believe that Jesus really did die on the cross for me.
But what has this to do with "head knowledge" vs. "heart knowledge"? I just think it's a bad way to express what is trying to be expressed. It makes it sound like one believes with their heart but not with their mind, like it's just some sort of emotion clouding one's reason. I can see that leading to a lot of errors.
I was watching some show about Santa Claus on the Hallmark channel last week when I heard someone in the show say, "Faith is believing without proof." This is not correct. Faith is not "believing what you know ain't so," as Mark Twain once put it. It is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). Faith might often be believing without seeing, but that is not the same thing as believing without proof. One does not have to check their brain at the door to have faith.
Amen.
This is precisely why the Heidelberg Catechism defines faith as “a certain knowledge and a hearty trust.” We need to know the truth. we need to agree that the truth is true and we need to trust that it’s true for us. There is no genuine dichotomy between “head knowledge” and “heart knowledge.” We can’t have the latter without the former. To have only knowledge is mere “historical faith” which is no faith at all.
You’re exactly right about proof and sight. Well said.
what about people who are uncertain about what they know, and their trust is less than hearty? my. all those “we need to…” I guess unpacks that for me.
As a Lutheran christian, I would tell you: if you think your faith is not strong enough to save you and your repentance lacks sincerity sufficient to be saved, let me help you. you deserve hell for the quality of your faith and repentance. period. believe that. Now, see that Jew hanging dead on that cross? Trust that He will never turn you away, no matter how much you doubt or how much you feel like a hipocrite! Trust HIM! HIM! You were baptised! Trust your baptism. He promised you there that you were His forever. YOUR baptism. HOLD God to his promise to you there,and to HELL with anything that tells you otherwise.
Hi FW,
As a fellow Lutheran Christian, I am in total agreement with you. I dare not place my trust in my sincerity or in the quality of my faith and repentance. I can only look to Jesus hanging dead on the cross for my sins. I know it was for MY sins because I am baptized. God was the one who reached down and saved me through that means of grace, not because of my sincerity but solely because of His mercy.