I. The Doctrine of God (Theology)
A. The Existence of God: How Do We Know that God Exists?
1. Humanity’s Inner Sense of God – All people have an inner sense that God exists, that they are His creatures, and that He is their Creator. Of the wicked, Scripture has this to say about their rejection of this truth:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. (Rom 1:18-19 NAS)
The denial of God’s existence is the willful act of a fool.
“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good. (Psa 14:1; 53:1 NAS)
For the Christian, this inner sense of God takes on a clear and distinct understanding. Christians begin to see God as their heavenly Father.
“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’" (Rom 8:15 NAS)
The Holy Spirit bears witness with the Christian that he or she is a child of God.
”The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,” (Rom 8:16 NAS)
Christians come to know that Jesus Christ is living within them.
“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,” (Eph 3:17 NAS)
“to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:27 NAS)
B. Believing the Evidence in Scripture and Nature
1. Beginning with the book of Genesis, Scripture does not present the existence of God as something that needs to be proven. Instead, Scripture assumes that God exists throughout the entire canon.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen 1:1 NAS)
Thus, at the very beginning of the written Word of God, we find not a list of convincing proofs that there is a God, but rather we are told what God has done. Closely connected with this biblical presupposition, Scripture also declares that the existence of God is evident through nature.
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Rom 1:20 NAS)
“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” (Psa 19:1 NAS)
The beauty of a snowflake, the complexity of the human eye, the navigational abilities of a simple honey bee, and a million other evidences in nature (creation) all point to the fact that God the Creator exists. Anyone denying this truth is either wrongly evaluating the evidence or intentionally denying the existence of God.
C. Traditional Proofs for the Existence of God – The traditional “proofs” for the existence of God have been constructed by Christian (and some non-Christian) philosophers throughout history. They are attempts to analyze the evidence for the existence of God, especially from nature, in extremely careful and logically precise ways, in order to convince people that it is not rational to reject the idea of God’s existence.
Most of the traditional proofs for the existence of God can be classified in four major types of arguments:
1. The Cosmological Argument considers the fact that every known thing in the universe has a cause. Therefore, the universe itself must also have a cause, and the cause of such a great universe can only be God.
2. The Teleological Argument is really a subcategory of the Cosmological Argument. It focuses on the evidence, harmony, order, and design in the universe, and argues that its design gives evidence of an intelligent purpose (the Greek word telos means “end” or “goal” or “purpose”). Since the universe appears to be designed with a purpose, there must be an intelligent and purposeful God who created it to function this way.
3. The Ontological Argument begins with the idea of God, who is defined as a being (ont is the Greek stem for “being”) “greater than which nothing can be imagined.” It then argues that the characteristic of existence must belong to such a Being since it is greater to exist than not to exist.
4. The Moral Argument begins from man’s sense of right and wrong, and for the need for justice to be done. It argues that there must be a God who is the source of all that is right and good and who will one day mete out justice to all people.
These four types of arguments are used to overcome to intellectual objections to the existence of God held by unbelievers. These arguments cannot bring people to saving faith, but they can provide intellectual evidence for something that they have already been persuaded of from their own inner sense of God and from the testimony of Scripture and nature.
D. The Knowability of God – Can we really know God? How much of God can we know?
1. The Necessity for God to Reveal Himself to Us – If we are to know God at all, it is necessary for Him to make himself known to us. Even when discovering God in nature, it is God’s revelation of himself through nature that enables us to know Him. This is general revelation.
With regard to the personal knowledge of God that comes in salvation, this idea is even more explicit.
"All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. (Mat 11:27 NAS)
Thus, only God himself can give the special revelation of himself and the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross that leads to salvation. Apart from God’s special revelation of himself, sinful man will misinterpret the evidence of God’s existence found in nature.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, (Rom 1:18 NAS)
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (Rom 1:21 NAS)
25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (Rom 1:25 NAS)
2. We Can Never Fully Understand God – Because God is infinite and we are finite, we can never fully understand God.
3 Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable. (Psa 145:3 NAS)
10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. (1Co 2:10-11 NAS)
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa 55:9 NAS)
In light of this truth, it is accurate to say that God is incomprehensible, that is, that we will never fully be able to comprehend everything about God. We may know of God’s love, or compassion, or wrath, or holiness, or patience, but we will never know everything about these attributes of God because He is an incomprehensible infinite God.
3. Yet We Can Know God Truly – Even though we cannot know God exhaustively, that is, know all there is to know about God or about an attribute of God, we can know God truly. We can know God truly because all that Scripture tells us about God can be trusted as true.
It is important to know that through Scripture, not only do we learn about the attributes of God, but we also come to know God himself.
23 Thus says the LORD, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD. (Jer 9:23-24 NAS)
God is telling us here in His Word that the source of our joy and our sense of importance ought to come not from our own abilities or possessions, but from the fact that we know Him. According to Jesus, our eternal life hinges upon this reality.
3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. (Joh 17:3 NAS)
Thus, we do not have mere facts about God, but rather we know God unto salvation through the revelation of Jesus Christ. We know God truly as He has revealed himself to us.
(Source: Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Zondervan. Grand Rapids. 2000. 1291 pp. $30.99)
(Source: Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Zondervan. Grand Rapids. 2000. 1291 pp. $30.99)
