Friday, February 4, 2011

Romans 1:20 God Revealed in Creation

Romans 1:20  “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”. (NASB)

We’re studying Romans on Friday nights at our house shadowing the preaching of our pastor from the Sunday prior.  This week we are looking at one of my favorite passages from Romans.  I have several so you may see some more on Romans before we finish up but today we’re looking at God’s wrath.  Specifically we’re looking at the foundation from which God’s wrath is justified.  Frankly, it is God’s wrath, His intolerance of sin that drives our need for a savior.  The passage today lays the groundwork by which a just God is intolerant of sin.  The passage talks about the revealing of God by God.  That is, how is it that God let’s us, His created beings know He exists.

Romans 1:20 shares what is referred to as “General” revelation.  That is, one way God has used from the beginning until today to reveal Himself to all men.  So what is general revelation?  Simply put, it is the revelation of the Creator through the creation.

God says, “Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature …”.  So this idea isn’t something new; since the beginning it has been true.  What is revealed?  It is two of God’s invisible attributes that are revealed.  One commentary called this an oxymoron; what is invisible is made visible.  What are those attributes? 

First, His eternal power is revealed.  This is true because the design of creation is expansive and it has incredible detail.  Only the awesome power of God can solve the question, “How did this come into being”.  So, on this attribute, nature is yelling and screaming, “God exists, He created all of this”.

Second, God’s divine nature is revealed.  That is His divinity.  Divinity means “Of God” or “Proceeding from God”.  The idea is then that not only is there a Creator responsible for the design of creation, there is a Creator responsible for producing it from Himself. 

The passage says man from the beginning has had and does have the ability to “Clearly see” the Creator through what he has made; through creation.  And those invisible attributes, His Divinity and His Omnipotence, can be known by this observation; not only known but “Understood”.  Think about it for a minute.  Examine the detail of a flower with all the reproductive parts built perfectly and uniquely for the species.  Examine the intricacies of a human eyeball, not even medically; just what you can see and understand.  It’s phenomenal to think this body part takes in a picture of our world and feeds an image to our brain that we can understand.  From that image we can navigate, feed ourselves, interact with one another and etc. etc.  The examples are endless even before going into the detail modern science allows.  Our modern tools allow knowledge of the structure of DNA or organelles within a cell or the expanse and design of the universe.

The importance of general revelation however is not knowing God in the sense of a relationship.  General revelation only produces a convicting knowledge of God.  That is, because of the general revelation of God to all men in all times through the creation that demands a Creator they “Know” God exists.  Knowing this, all men are “Without excuse” when they do not acknowledge and pursue God.  So when someone says, the poor tribesman in the undiscovered village has not heard about God they’re incorrect.  The tribesman can know God exists by general revelation.  All men fall under this conviction so all are without excuse if they deny God.

It’s odd to leave our discussion here but today that’s what we’ll just have to do.  Praise be to God the Creator and Sustainer of life.  Praise to Him for revealing Himself to all through the creation itself.  AMEN!

For a glimpse into this scripture in action follow this link: Although  taking the evolutionary stance throughout the fingerprint of God is unmistakeable in this film.

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