Day 1092 · Year 3 · The Great Tradition
Aquinas on faith and reason together
A 13th-century friar refused to pit thinking against believing.
Today's passage
Colossians 2:2-3
2that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ,
3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Berean Standard Bible · public domain
Reflection
Thomas Aquinas worked tirelessly to show that careful reasoning serves, rather than threatens, Christian faith. Paul says the same — in Christ are 'hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' That means there is no truth, anywhere — in physics, in history, in psychology — that finally contradicts Christ. If you have been told you must choose between thinking and believing, that is a false choice. Bring your mind to Christ. He is more secure than your hardest question.
From the great tradition · paraphrased
Thomas Aquinas · Medieval · 13th c. · Italy
Thomas Aquinas insisted that all truth is God's truth, and that careful reasoning, far from threatening faith, is one of the ways the mind worships its Maker.
Paraphrase only. Scripture, not any teacher, is the authority.
Think it through
- What is the goal Paul names for the church in verse 2?
- What does it mean that 'all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge' are in Christ?
- What honest question have you been afraid to bring to Christ?
A prayer to pray
Bring the hard question. Ask Christ for the courage to think honestly and the humility to trust him with what you cannot yet see.