To avoid rationalism which says, we only know things as we conceptualize them in our mind. And avoiding empiricisms which states, the intellect is passive and we only gain knowledge through sensation. And avoiding idealism which says, we only know things as they appear, not as they really are. The realism Bavinck chooses is such that we live in Gods world and as man we have a God given active intellect to perceive and make sense of objects in the world as they really are. Like the empiricist Bavinck the Realist will say, that knowledge is gained through the senses. The difference is, that for Bavinck the Realist, the intellect is active, the intellect actively process particular sense experiences and abstracts general or universal principles. For Bavinck, when man observes, say for instance, a tree, the mind unlike the empiricist is not passive, perceiving only a distinct objects such as bark, branches, and leaves, but rather is active and as it perceives the bark, branches and leaves, can abstract from the sensation the universal idea of treeness.
So the question is, on what grounds does Bavinck formulate this active intellect notion? Well following Thomas who followed Aristotle on this, Bavinck wants to hold that things out in the word such as a tree, participates or has within itself, the essence of treeness or the universal idea of treeness. Then the active intellect, as man observes the particular tree, abstract the universal idea of treeness, which is a law of thought within man given by God. This principle of the active intellect, says Bavinck, is founded upon the Logos of scripture. Taking John 1:3, Bavinck explains that the Logos which shines light into this world and also light in men, is the light of reason. “The Logos, who shines in the world, must also let his light shine in our consciousness. That is the light of reason, the intellect, which itself originating in the Logos, discovers and recognizes the Logos in things. This is the foundation of knowledge, which can only be a gift of God’s mind.” (p.52)
No here I pose a criticism. I think Bavinck is not fully consistent in his realism, and not precise with his use of John 1. Bavinck previously said “The foundations of theology are thus Trinitarian: The Father, through the Son as Logos, imparts himself to creatures in the Spirit.” But now in this section he states “The proper starting point for any theory of knowledge is the universal and natural certainty we find spontaneously in our ordinary experience” and in the next paragraph he says “Sense perception is the starting point of all human knowledge”. These statements are obviously inconsistent, one cannot maintain a Revelational Epistemology on the one hand, and that sense perception as the starting point of all human knowledge on the other. If God and His revelation (both special and general) is the source of all knowledge, how could Bavinck state the sense perception is the starting point?
Bavinck attempts to bring these contradictory ideas together through the use of John 1 and the active intellect. On p52 as noted above Bavinck says that the Logos is the light of reason, this for Bavinck is the grounds for his active intellect which is then the foundation for knowledge. John 1:1-5, 9-11 says as follows:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. . . . 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. (John 1:1-5, 9 ESV)
The Light here is not the general capacity to reason, or to have basic common sense principles, but rather the knowledge of God through the activity of the Logos himself. When John tells us in verse 4 that the darkness has not overcome the light, he does not mean that darkness has not overcome our active intellect and ability to make common sense judgments. John is teaching us that Christ, who is the true light, enlightens everyone. The enlightenment is the knowledge of God himself, which everyone has, and that the darkness has not overcome. By taking this approach to John 1 along with Romans 1:18 (All men know God) it is clear that scripture is teaching us that there is a certain implanted knowledge all men have, and that is the Light of the World, God himself. There is no hint here that people simply have the capacity for knowing God, or can be reasoned with to know God. All men by virtue of being created in God’s image know God, and the darkness has not overcome it. Now it is only through the regenerating work of the Spirit that will allow man through Spirit wrought faith to embrace this knowledge and worship God. But man has no excuse, God has made himself known to all people.
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