God's Self Revelation To Man Part 2

Romans 1:18-32
18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For 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 men are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Theses verse tells us what more can be known about God through his general revelation. Verse 19 talks about how the whole human race has had the knowledge of God . It also goes on to say that it plain to them because God has made it plain to them. God has not left anyone in the dark concerning his existence. God is not hiding nor trying keep a low profile. God is not trying to make sure you do not find him. Just the opposite verse 19 says “ God has made it plain to them”. Not only that he exist but even his attributes are apparent, “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 men are without excuse.” No one has an excuse because the truth of God is plainly evident, not only that, his eternal power and divine nature always have been evident since the creation of the world. Verse 21 says this about mankind's knowledge of God, “For although they knew God”, mankind has the knowledge of God. Now lets see what man has done with this knowledge look at veres 28, “ since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God “. Notice that mankind has had knowledge of God. Being clueless is not the default position, not knowing is not the default position. We have to choose not acknowledge God. Though we are born with the knowledge of God (in a certain sense) we willing and volitionally give it up. Look at verse 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.,verse 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen., verse 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done., verse 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. The reason someone does not believe in God is not because God has made his existence unclear but people choose not to. They in their sin nature choose themselves over God and deny him and worship the creation and not its creator.

What I want to point out here is the truth of God is something that has to rejected not discovered; and man in his sinful nature is very willing to do just that! Also that people are not theological or philosophically neutral concerning God. People do not objectively look at the truth and without the intervention of the Holy Spirit they suppress the truth! So when you present a certain argument all things are not equal! People not legitimately consider an argument due to their spiritual bias. Sin has affected everything in the human race especially our thinking. So is it strange that a particular person would not accept an theistic argument? No! This is because Romans 1 is true remember “their hearts are darkened”, “they exchange the truth of God for a lie”, “they suppress the truth”! That is why people are not neutral about the things of God, they actively resist them. That is also part of God's judgment on them for rejecting the truth;that they do not comprehend what would otherwise be very apparent.

Is there then no use for philosophical arguments because man in his sin cannot see God? No! Even though man may reject he cannot get past the fact that God has left his imprint on man. Gensis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” and Ecc 3:11 says “He has also set eternity in their heart”. This shows that man was created with God's imprint, so in a certain sense he intrinsically knows his creator since he bears his image and was created to know him this is another form of general revelation and also is the biblical grounds for certain a-priori arguments which point back to the truth that God has inscribed on our hearts. Therefore arguments like the moral argument ,the transcendental arguement, and Plantinga's idea that belief in God is a “properly basic belief” or maybe even certain ontological arguments have a grounding in a biblical wordview. These philosophical arguments can then be used with a sinner who denies the truth to point them their own Sensus divinitatis. This what John Calvin called people's God implanted tendency to accept belief in God

A potential question that then may arise is: “well if we had the truth imprinted in us why is not every one a theist?” The answer is Romans 1:27 “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Men in their sin nature choose themselves over God and abandon the truth of God. God also gives them over to their sinful desires as an act of judgment against them.

Another question you may ask is “how is the truth that God have imprinted himself on human heart even evident in those who openly deny God? “

Let me first answer this by saying until about 5 years and some months ago I was an atheist. Though I professed not believe in God, I still bore evidence that showed that I was made to be the imageo dei (the image of God). I did not believe in morals being relative but I had no way to ground morals in my naturalistic/nihilistic worldview. I also was not content with the idea that you live, you die, and the end. Although, I wanted to be content with that idea I was not. In my atheism I also had a personal hate for God and the things of God. If God was just a faulty idea that most people had why should that result in a personal hatred. For example, I don't agree with vegetarianism but I don't take the idea of vegetarianism personally and hate it in a personal way. But I did with God. This does not make too much sense when do not believe he exists. Anyway these are not the only ways to show that God's imprint is on those that deny God but is just examples that show that even people who deny God can not escape being the imageo Dei.

This concludes my two posts on general revelation as biblical grounds for philosophical arguments for the existence of God. I also believe in using personal experience as way to show the existence of God and is biblical justifiable I will say more on that when I come to it. This post though explored many topics was to show biblical grounds for a-priori arguments for the existence of God. The next post will actually begin the presentations of arguments for the existence of God, starting with the cosmological argument.
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For futher reading see:
Faith & Reason (especially chapters 8 and 9) by Ron Nash
There Are No Real Athiests! by Dave Mullins