"I Need No Other Argument": How A Hymn Lyric Speaks A Vital Truth*

Image Credit: Media from Wix

The line "I need no other argument" comes from the hymn "My Faith Has Found a Resting Place." In the context of the hymn, the line is a confident declaration by the believer that Christ and His perfect salvific work for him is his only plea for being declared righteous (i.e., justified) in God's court. The message in that lyric is the spirit of every true Christian, and it is the standard which every professing believer should use to examine his heart to see if he actually is a Christian or not.

Yet, there is another meaning to this line we should reflect on! Not the meaning of the line in its original context, of course, but another true and vital meaning nonetheless! That other meaning is this: the Lord Jesus Christ, along with being the believer's Justification (and Salvation as a whole), is the Christian's Standard of rationality. The godly person recognizes the objective and axiomatic truth that a proposition, belief, argument, etc. is logical and rational only insofar as it accords with God and His Word. Conversely, the one who loves God believes that these things are fallacious only inasmuch as they contradict the Lord and the Bible. Unbelievers of all stripes are adherents of all kinds of false gods, or false standards of rationality, but Christians, only because of God's gracious choice to open the eyes of their hearts, repent (i.e. change their minds) and put their ultimate trust in Christ, God's equally Divine Son, alone. In the sense described in this paragraph, Christ is the Christian's only Argument! And indeed, just like in salvation, Christ alone is sufficient!

*I remember seeing, in the past, a Charles Spurgeon resource that influenced my thoughts in this post. According to my memory (keep that phrase in mind as you read this note), the resource said something along the lines of Christ, or some thing in Scripture, being "our" (Christians') logic. However, so far, I don't know what that specific resource is. Either way, if my memory serves me correctly on that point, I want to leave this note here to give credit where it is due.