Redeemer Catechism Series, Question 7
JORDAN QUINLEY
Question seven of the Redeemer Catechism asks about mankind’s universal knowledge of God.
Q7: How do we know there is a God?
A7: Nature and God’s works plainly show there is a God; but only his Word and Holy Spirit do so fully and clearly enough for the salvation of sinners.
In this question and answer, the catechism asserts a universal apprehension on the part of human beings that there is a God. God’s existence is manifested in two ways. “Nature” means, first of all, the light of nature which people possess internally, and second, the revelation of God evident in the created universe.
As to the first, this is the inborn sense of a transcendent reality and a Supreme Being which people have, and which they intuitively understand. This knowledge of God is due to our having been made in God’s image, to reflect His attributes, and to be His representatives on earth. It is also due to the witness of the human conscience. Proverbs 20:27 tells us, somewhat mysteriously perhaps, that “The human spirit is the lamp of the Lord that sheds light on one’s inmost being.”
Yes, our understanding of such light is obscured by the Fall of the human race into sin, as we shall see when we examine Question 18. Yet Paul, referring to the Gentiles (that is, the heathen who have not yet come to know God), says that “they are darkened in their understanding…because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts” (Eph. 4:18, see Rom. 1:21). Nevertheless, elsewhere, again using that term “Gentiles” who “do not have the law”—that is to say, they never received the special revelation of God’s verbal instructions as the Jews did—Paul says that they at times “do by nature things required by the law, [being] a law for themselves.”
Further, he says, “[T]hey show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them” (Rom. 1:14, 15). This revelation can be sufficient to alert people that there is a higher authority to which they are accountable, and to give basic notions of moral and immoral behavior. One can see an instance of this in the statement made by the king of the Philistines to Isaac in Genesis 26:10. However, this innate knowledge is always suppressed in great measure, as people pursue their own pleasures in rejection of God’s standards. In this way, even religious people apart from Christ, are “ignorant of the very thing [they] worship” (Acts 17:23).
As to creation, the evidence for God is all around us. It is seen in the heavens, on the earth, and in our own fearfully and wonderfully made bodies. Again, the apostle Paul tells us that “what may be known about God is plain to them [all unsaved people], because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Rom. 1:19, 20). The heavens declare—not whisper!—the glory of God (Ps. 19:1, see Job 12:7-10).
“God’s works” refer to things He has done in addition to creation. This includes His works of providence, of judgment, of mercy, of bringing prophesies to pass, and of miracles. By all these means, people may perceive that there is a God. In Acts 14:15-17, Paul and Barnabas tell the crowd,
“We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. In the past, he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” (emphasis mine). All the kindnesses of God which are manifest in the blessings we derive from the natural environment testify to the presence, activity, and care of our Creator. For “the Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he as made. All your works praise you, Lord” (Ps. 145:9, 10).
The revelations given through nature and God’s works, however, are not enough on their own to bring people to a saving knowledge of God. More specific knowledge is required, which can come only through special, verbal revelation from God. That is, through his Word, which ordinarily is carried by human messengers (Rom. 10:17), and will ordinarily be the written Word, the Scriptures. It is not impossible, perhaps, that such revelation may reach people by other means, as God has determined the times and places that all people live, so that “they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him” (Acts 17:26, 27), though it seems to me that such instances would be exceptional.
Yet, because of our sinful nature, even God’s Word is not enough on its own (Is. 6:9; Jn. 6:63, 64). In order to effect salvation, revelation from God, of any kind, must be accompanied by a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the recipient, giving us sufficient understanding and faith (1Co. 2:10-15; 2 Co. 3:6). No one can be saved without being softened in heart and given new liveliness toward spiritual truths by the Holy Spirit of God. This was one of the main points Jesus made to Nicodemus when he told him, “you must be born again.”
“No one can see the kingdom of God,” Jesus says, meaning no one can enter into God’s community of redeemed people, “unless they are born again.” Elaborating, Jesus says that “no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit” (Jn. 3:1-8). This is because, as Paul will later write, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:14).
So then, despite the evidence for God which is all around us, saving knowledge of God can only come when the Holy Spirit works by and with special revelation from God both to make people aware of their own inadequacy and their need for a Savior and to make them willing and desirous to submit to that revelation and call on the name of the Lord.
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