God and Reason (5)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse… Romans 1.18-20

Our “reasonable” God
We have seen that, according to the teaching of Scripture, God is reasonable. He invites us to reason with Him, to learn His purposes and will, and to prosecute our lives and destinies in the light of His Word and plan. God approaches us, who have been made in His image, with the protocols of reason, so that He may engage with us in ways that go beyond reason in a relationship of love we can experience more readily than express (Eph. 3.19).

At the same time, God is not limited by reason, that is, by the tenets, protocols, and powers of the human mind, so that He must sort things out in ways that satisfy intellectual curiosity and “make sense” to us in every part. God’s ways are not our ways; His thoughts are higher and more profound than ours (Is. 55.8, 9). At some point we simply must cease trying to figure things out and trust God in His Word, until – if ever – it pleases Him to grant us more understanding.

Such a view does not excuse the use of reason on the part of human beings, or in seeking or searching for God. Christians have a mandate to exercise dominion over the world and to advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth as it is in heaven (Gen. 1.26-28; Matt. 6.33; Heb. 2.1-9). This necessarily will find us engaged with people and things in ways that require profound understanding, which we may expect to gain through the use of our God-given reason, in the light of His revealed Word and will.

Of course, the highest object of our contemplation, that which we have been created and redeemed to know, is God Himself (Jn. 17.3; 2 Pet. 3.18). Believers in Christ understand that our greatest joy, highest fulfillment, and most satisfying reason for being are to be found in Christ, and in the presence of God with Him (Phil. 3.14; Ps. 16.11). Thus, we must engage all our faculties – reason being chief among them – in this quest to know God and to make Him known, taking as our focus, and as the supreme revelation of God to men, our Lord Jesus Christ.

But is reason reliable by itself to bring us to the knowledge of God? Let’s consider how the Scriptures direct us in thinking about this question.

God knowable by reason
Because the entire creation is the handiwork of God, the second of two “books” of divine revelation, it makes sense that we should expect to see the stamp of His authorship on every page. The heavens, the earth, and all creatures – from the largest, most far-flung galaxies to whatever makes up the Higgs boson – have something clear to say to us about the being, attributes, or will of God (Ps. 19.1-4).

And because human beings are made in the image of God and endowed with reasoning minds, it is reasonable to expect that they should be able to discern God on every page of the book of creation.

According to the Apostle Paul, this is precisely the case with every human being: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributesare clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, evenHis eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…” All human beings are able to discern the existence of God from observing the world of creation. They can know something about His being – He is eternal – and His attributes – His power and divinity (spirituality). And all human beings in whom reason functions unimpaired have made this conclusion; indeed, there is even evidence to suggest that those who, by defect of heredity, birth, accident, or disease are unable to reason “normally” nonetheless possess a sense of the existence of God.  All human beings know God, and they have arrived at this knowledge of God through such rudimentary reasoning protocols as observation, questioning, pondering, comparing, analyzing, synthesizing, intuiting, and concluding.

All human beings know God. This is demonstrated by the way thoughts about God populate the records of philosophy, the arts, ancient religions, and human cultures from every place and time and at every level of sophistication. God is making Himself known through the things He has made, and human beings are able to use their reason to arrive at a true knowledge of God, at least, within certain general parameters.

God’s purpose
God’s purpose in making human beings this way is to pique their curiosity and draw them on in pursuit of more knowledge of God until, their restless hearts hungering and thirsting for Him, they find their full and complete rest in God through faith in Jesus Christ (Augustine). God has given human beings the gift of reason so that, to the extent they are able, they may discern His presence, hear His invitation to reason further, and seek and search for Him accordingly (Acts 17.27).

But this, as we shall see, is not the whole story.

Reason is a reliable resource for knowing God. And we whose calling it is to make God known through Jesus Christ may assume that those to whom we communicate this Good News already possess a rudimentary but real knowledge of God, so that it is not necessary for us to invest our time or efforts trying to prove God’s existence. Much more fruitful roads than this are available to us in reasoning with our neighbors on behalf of the God they already know.

For reflection
1.  Why do we say that the Bible and creation are two “books” of divine revelation? In what ways are you presently reasoning with God through each of these?

2.  In what sense can we say that all people already know God? How have they come to know Him? What do they do with that knowledge?

3.  Why is it not more evident in our world that all people know God? How can this problem be addressed, so that people may heed God’s invitation and come reason with Him for the benefits He offers?

Next steps – Conversation: Talk with some friends – Christian or non-Christian – about what it means to know God. How do your friends know Him? What do they know about Him? Those who deny Him, how do they know He does not exist?

T. M. Moore

This is part 1 of a 2-part series on God and Reason. You can download this week’s study as a free PDF, suitable for personal or group use, by clicking here.

We invite you to register for the free online course, One in Twelve: Introduction to Christian Worldview. In this course T. M. Moore provides a sweeping panorama of how life in the Kingdom of God unfolds in an age in flight from God such as ours. Set your own schedule and study at your own pace. Learn more, and register for One in Twelve, by clicking here.

Help us discover the state of people’s understanding of God’s truth. Watch the brief video explaining our Understanding the Bible Questionnaire (click here). Then download the Questionnaire and begin using it with the people in your Personal Mission Field. Be sure to come back to the website and record the answers you receive. We’ll update you from time to time on what we’re learning.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.