Truth is Its Own Evidence
The word evidence comes from the Latin root meaning “to see”. When we demand evidence of something, we want to “see” it in some sense, although the thing itself may be absent by circumstance, or invisible by nature.
The scientific method is evidence-based. It presupposes a correspondence between true abstract theories and natural phenomena. This is why theories in physics must be corroborated by experiments and observations. A theory is a model, a map, but it may be false or inaccurate, and may not represent the territory. The scientific method tests and revises our theory constantly so that it approximate nature as much as possible.
In his essay “Nature“, Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, “All science has one aim, namely, to find a theory of nature…Whenever a true theory appears, it will be its own evidence. Its test is, that it will explain all phenomena.”
Note that he says “a true theory appears”. A theory is abstract, how can it “appear”?
I think what Emerson has in mind is incarnation, in the sense that the abstract Being (Truth, Goodness and Beauty) becomes embodied completely in the concrete. When that happens, Truth will be its own Evidence. It would be foolish of anyone to ask for “evidence” of Truth, because it subsumes all “evidence” and “phenomena”, and no addition or subtraction is possible.
Emerson, the soul of the Transcendentalist movement, believes in the deity of man, but not the Divinity of Jesus. It is ironic that he gives one of the most succinct explanations of Incarnation, that is, the Truth is its own Evidence, its own Image. As Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father”.
Scientific Method in the Bible
The evidence-based approach, i.e. scientific method, is found in the Old Testament. In a passage foreshadowing the coming of Christ (Deut. 18:15-22), God instructs the Israelites on how to discern between true and false prophets:
You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?” If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.
—Deut. 18:21-22
At first glance, this seems to suggest that divine revelation is subject to the approval of evidence by man, and that there is a standard of truth apart from God. Upon further reflection, however, this also is a demonstration of the principle of Incarnation. Because God is the Creator and Lord of nature, his Word must have correspondence and fulfillment in nature, for both originate from Him.
In the New Testament, the Evidence is examined more closely:
We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—
—1 John 1:1-2
References:
- Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Nature” Project Gutenberg. July 17, 2009. Accessed December 24, 2015. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29433.
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