Prof. Stackhouse on certainty ...

So I think it's fine to say that I am "certain" about these things. When I do, I am reporting on my state of mind. I am saying that I am so highly convinced of them that I entertain no serious doubts about them. I think, and feel, and act with untroubled confidence in them.

And that is what the Bible promises me: that I can enjoy such confidence--note that word: such "with-faith-ness" (con fide)--that I can make crucial life decisions according to such convictions.

The Bible, that is, doesn't promise somehow to lift me above my human limitations into an epistemic situation such that I can know something truly and also know that I know it truly and could not possibly be wrong. How could I, as a human being, ever experience something like that?

(And those who quote passages such as Luke 1:4 and Hebrews 11:1 need to consult the Greek lectionaries to see what is actually meant in the English translations that use "certain" words therein. Those words do not mean certainty in the former sense I'm defining here.)

No, the Bible promises that I can know with such assurance, such conviction, such well-grounded faith that I then can and will act in accordance with that faith--and thus be faithful.

Read the whole thing. It's lengthy, but worth the time spent. For an even lengthier read, his latest book is certainly tempting me for some future reading.