CAN GOD BE KNOWN APART FROM THE BIBLE?
Telling
unbelievers, "Deep down you know God" is the source of almost all heresy.
When
somebody thinks they know God "deep down" apart from Scripture, they will
DISREGARD the Bible. After all, who needs the Bible when you can know God
without it?
When
people think they can know about God OUTSIDE the Bible, they will CRITICISE the
Bible.
Ask yourself. Which man will pay more attention to the
Bible?
1) The man who believes God is revealed in the Bible + Nature +
Innately
OR
2) The man who believes God is ONLY revealed in the
Bible
The man who believes he knows God WITHOUT the Bible will DISREGARD
the Bible, since he will think "I know God without the Bible... Why do I need
it?"
Try teaching any Arminian the doctrine of reprobation. You say to
them, "Mr. Arminian, God hates the non-elect. He has chose to send them to hell,
even before they were born! Read Romans 9.. God hated Esau before his birth!"
What will the Arminian say? He will probably say that he "feels" your
God is "evil". And that your God is "unfair".
The Arminian will criticise
the Bible by his feelings. Because the Arminian thinks he knows God
WITHOUT the Bible, he will ALWAYS be lead astray by his own
ideas. He assumes he can know God by looking at creation and innately.
And therefore, he always disregards the teaching of the
Scripture. Who needs the Bible, if we can know God without it?
A lot of
people tell me "everyone believes in God". But this is simply false! Sure people
might believe in a "god" but their god is NOT the God of the
Bible!!!
In fact, if someone does not believe the gospel, then they have
NO IDEA who the True God is!
Without belief in the gospel, a man doesn't
even have a conscience! He is totally ignorant of the truth."
Here are
some points from the Scripture...
1) God
writes His Law on a man's heart at conversion (Jeremiah 31:33). Now, why does
God have to do that? Doesn't it mean that the man didn't have the Law on his
heart in the first place? So the unregenerate must NOT have God's Law on their
hearts. Otherwise why does God have to write it on their hearts at conversion?
"After
those days, declares Jehovah, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and I
will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My
people." (Jeremiah 31:33)
2) BY FAITH believers understand that the True
God created the universe (Hebrews 11). That means that in order to perceive that
God created the universe, you must HAVE FAITH. Doesn't that mean that
unbelievers (those without faith), cannot perceive that God created the
universe?
"By faith we understand the ages to have been framed by
the Word of God, so that the things seen should not come into
being out of things that appear." (Hebrews 11:3)
3) Oxen know their
masters, but unregenerate Israel did not know God (Isaiah 1). In other words,
animals have more understanding of their environment than the unregenerate do
about God. Do unregenerate men perceive the True God any more than the animals?
"
The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's manger, but Israel does
not know; My people have not understood." (Isaiah 1:3) "The
stork in the heavens knows her seasons, and the turtledove and the swallow and
the thrush observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the
judgment of Jehovah." (Jer8:7)
GOD
IS NOT REVEALED IN NATURE. NEITHER CAN HE BE KNOWN "INNATELY"
Now, I
certainly AGREE that God HAS revealed Himself to the unregenerate
Gentiles to CONDEMN them. "The unseen things of Him ... are clearly seen ... for
them to be without excuse." But the question is -- HOW did God reveal himself to
the Gentiles? Was He revealed in nature? Or can he be known apart from
Scripture?
When
the Bible says, "the heavens declare the glory of God" it means that the GOSPEL
is throughout the world, declaring God's glory.
"And I saw another angel
flying in mid-HEAVEN, having an EVERLASTING GOSPEL to proclaim to those dwelling
on the earth, even TO EVERY NATION and tribe and tongue and people, saying in a
great voice...." (Revelation 14:6)
Of course, this verse is
metaphorical. By angel, John must mean messenger. He must be saying that the
prophets and preachers proclaimed the gospel "TO EVERY NATION".
Also,
Paul in Romans 10 says that Psalm 19 is talking about the UNIVERSAL preaching of
the GOSPEL.
Romans 10:16-18 - "And how may they preach if they are not
sent? ... Then faith is of hearing, and hearing through the Word of God. But I
say, Did they not hear? Yes, rather, "INTO ALL THE EARTH THEIR VOICE WENT OUT,
and to the ends of the world their words." LXX-Psa. 18:5; MT-Psa. 19:4
Psalm 19 is saying that the voices of the prophets were heard from "the
heavens" (a metaphor for the 'everywhere') and "into all the earth their voice
went out, and to the ends of the world their words."(v4)
This
is NOT my interpretation of Psalm 19. It is the Apostle Paul's !!! See Romans
10:18
JEHOVAH
CAN ONLY BE REVEALED BY WORDS
As
Bildad the Gentile says, the Gentiles knew about Jehovah by the Law which
was handed down by word of mouth. Bildad says,
Job 8:8 ¶ For now ASK
OF THE FORMER GENERATIONS , and prepare to the search of their
FATHERS; Shall they not TEACH YOU, speak to you, and bring
forth words out of their heart? Job 20: 4 Do you KNOW THIS FROM OF
OLD, FROM THE SETTING OF MAN ON EARTH , that the exulting of the wicked is near
an end , and the joy of the ungodly is for a moment? He swallows
wealth, but vomits it; God drives it out from his belly.This is
the evil man's portion from God, and the inheritance of his word from God. Job
15: 17 I will tell
you; hear me, and I will declare this that I have seen; that which WISE MEN
HAVE TOLD and have NOT HIDDEN FROM THEIR FATHERS ; All the days of
the wicked he is laboring in pain; because he stretched out his hand
against God; and he acts mighty against the Almighty.
Notice, that
the "former generations", "wise men", and "fathers" had passed on by word of
mouth that 1) "the exulting of the wicked is near an end" 2) God drives vomit
out of his belly (this is his "inheritance of his word from God")
Also,
note that Bildad says, "I will tell you; hear me, and I will declare this that
I HAVE SEEN ... All the days of the wicked he is laboring in pain;
because he stretched out his hand against God " (Job 15:17,20)
Not only
had information about God and His Law been handed down to Bildad, but he had
also witnessed the wrath of God himself on his fellow Gentiles too.
Indeed,
the fact that there is a wrathful God who punishes transgressors has been always
been known among all Genitles. As Bildad the Gentile says, Gentiles have "
KNOW THIS FROM OF OLD, FROM THE SETTING OF MAN ON EARTH" (Job
15:18)
In other words, the Gentiles did not only know about the idea of a
divine intelligent Creator. They also heard about the fact that God is
righteous, wrathful and has a moral Law.
In other
words, God did not leave the Gentiles to their own wisdom to find out his
attributes. " the world by wisdom did not know God" (1 Cor
1:21) He must have assisted them with VERBAL REVELATION.
And we
also know that "through Law is full knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:19)
So
ALL men are without excuse for their sin and unbelief. But how do they
know their deeds are sinful? Well, "through Law is full knowledge of
sin." (Romans 3:19)
So the Gentiles were are condemned, because they
heard the Law, and transgressed it. That's why they are condemned for their
personal sins. The had the Law explained to thema, yet they transgressed anyway.
They are without excuse!
ROMANS
1
What about Romans 1:20? "For the unseen things of Him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things made
[poiema]"
God has
been known among the heathens SINCE "the creation of the world". But was he
known by the "things that are made [poiema]"?
The word
poiema is found thirty times in the Greek version of the Old Testament. Except
for one occurrence it translates the Hebrew word ma'aseh, "deed" or "work". In
one exception it translates the Hebrew po'al, "doing", "deed" or
"work". (1)
The noun
poiema is in the plural. In classical Greek the word is used in the plural
to refer to works, to poems, to fiction, deeds or acts -- i.e., anything made or
done. (2)
(1) and
(2) are taken from the Wycliffe Bible Commentary 1962, p1186
Clearly,
there are several ways of translating Romans 1:20.
Instead
of translating it, God was known "by the things made [poiema]", it could be
translated -- God was known "by the things done [poiema]".
THOUGHTS
ON ROMANS 1
God has
revealed Himself to the unregenerate Gentiles to CONDEMN them. "The unseen
things of Him ... are clearly seen ... for them to be without excuse."
In this
passage, Paul implies that if God was not revealed among then Gentiles, the
Gentiles would have an excuse. Christ Himself makes this point with the
Pharisees. " If I came not and speak to them, they had no sin. Yet now they have
no pretense concerning their sin." (John 15:22). Christ is saying that IF there
is no revelation, then there is no condemnation. The darkness can only be
condemned by the light.
Thus, if God had not revealed Himself to the
Gentiles, then He would be unjust in punishing them for their sins. "For where
no Law is, there is no transgression." Paul says the ONLY way he knew that lust
was sin was BY THE LAW. "By the Law is the knowledge of sin." Of course the
Gentiles did not have the Law of Moses. But they DID have ENOUGH of the Moral
Law to be condemned as rebellious sinners. Paul notes that " those who,
recognizing the just statute of God, that those committing such things are
deserving of death, not only are doing them, but are endorsing, also, those who
are committing them." (Concordant Literal). The Gentiles KNEW ABOUT the just
statutes of God. God DID reveal Himself to them "FOR THEM TO BE WITHOUT
EXCUSE."
Now, the
question is raised -- how did God communicate this information to the Gentiles?
Paul says "For the unseen things of Him from the creation
[ktisis ] of the world are clearly seen..."
As you
are well aware, I don't think Paul is saying that the Gentiles knew about God by
looking at trees and rocks. I think he is saying that *from the beginning of
creation* or *from the foundations of the world*, Gentiles have known about the
True God. Otherwise, how do you make sense of Hebrews 11? It's says that it is
BY FAITH that we know that the worlds were framed by the Word of God and not
from the things that do appear. This would mean that unregenerate Gentiles --
without faith -- CANNOT possess the Scriptural knowledge that the worlds were
created. Of course, they will HEAR the truth OUTWARDLY, but they do not know it
internally in their conscience. The doctrine of creation is NOT obvious. Only
God can reveal it to man.
This is
the right time to return to the original question -- how did God communicate
this information to the Gentiles? Paul says "For the unseen things of Him
from the creation [ktisis] of the world are clearly
seen..."
There
are similar expressions in the New Testament to Paul's phrase, "from the
creation of the world". Here are four samples --
"But
from the beginning of creation [ktisis ] "God made them male and
female." Gen. 1:27 (Mark 10:6).
"...during the last days
scoffers will come walking according to their own lusts, and saying, Where is
the promise of His coming? For from which time the fathers fell asleep,
all things remain so from the beginning of creation [ ktisis
]." (2 Pet 3:3-4).
Notice also that the expression, "from the
creation of the world" is very similar to the phrase, "from the foundation of
the world."
"Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the crowds, and
He did not speak to them without a parable,
so that was fulfilled that spoken
through the prophet, saying: "I will open My mouth in parables; I will speak out
things hidden from the foundation of the world." Psa.
78:2" (Matthew 13:34-35)
"And all those dwelling in the earth will
worship it, those of whom the names had not been written in the Book of Life of
the Lamb having been slain from the foundation of the world ... And those
dwelling on the earth will marvel, the ones whose names have not been written on
the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, seeing the beast, that
it was a thing, and is not, yet now is." (Revelation 13:8, 17:8)
I hope
it's clear from the Scripture above what Paul means when he says, "For the
unseen things of Him from the creation [ktisis] of the world are
clearly seen from the things that are made...". He's saying that it is from the
BEGINNING of creation that men have known about the True God. It's from the
foundations of the world that God's truth has been manifested among men.
So, what does Paul mean when he says "the unseen things of Him .... are
clearly seen from the things that are made [poiEma]". The Greek word poiEma
only occurs twice in the New Testament. The other place is Ephesians 2:10.
"for we are His workmanship [poiEma], created in Christ Jesus
unto good works" (LITV)
" For His achievement are we, being
created in Christ Jesus for good works." (Concordant Literal translation)
At this point, I'd like to post the Concordant Literal translation of
Romans 1. Whilst I in NO WAY endorse the other writings of Concordant
Publishing, their translations are remarkably literal.
18 For
God's indignation is being revealed from heaven on all the irreverence and
injustice of men who are retaining the truth in injustice,
19
because that which is known of God is apparent among [en] them,
for God manifests it to them.
20 For His invisible attributes are
descried from the creation of the world, being apprehended by His
achievements, besides His imperceptible power and divinity, for them to be
defenseless,
21 because, knowing God, not as God do they glorify
or thank Him, but vain were they made in their reasonings, and darkened is their
unintelligent heart. ( http://www.concordant.org/version/index.html
)
The
translation of the 19th verse seems justified if we look at other Scripture
where the Greek word en is used in a similar context to Romans 1. " That
which is known of God is apparent among [en] them, for God
manifests it to them." Surely, God does not reveal himself INSIDE the minds of
the unregenerate !! No more than the Kingdom of Heaven was inside the
unregenerate Pharisees---
" And
being questioned by the Pharisees ...He answered them and said, ... the
kingdom of God is IN [ en] YOUR MIDST" (LITV, Luke
17:20:21)
Thus, as revelation was known AMONG the unregenerate Jews, so
it was AMONG (not inside!) the Gentiles. Both had it "in their midst", and will
be held accountable.
There is a similiar use of the Greek in Luke
chapter 1. Mary was blessed among [en] women. Likewise the truth is known among
[en] the Gentiles.
"And
entering, the angel said to her, .... You are blessed AMONG
[en] women!" (LITV, Luke 1:28).
To sum up -- the True was God
known AMONG the Gentiles by His achievements and His Moral Law. This means that
ALL Gentiles are condemned for disobeying God's revealed will. If they did not
have the revelation, they would not have been condemned. But God was MANIFESTED
among them by the spread of information (by word of mouth, preachers, dispersed
Jews, proselyte Gentiles), i.e. the spread of Scriptural information. The
darkness IS condemned by the light.
And remember how I pointed out the
similarity with Christ's reasoning. He said, " If I came not and speak to them,
they had no sin. Yet now they have no pretense concerning their sin." (John
15:22). Well, I'd like to put this verse in the context of another two verses
from John.
In the first passage, Christ states that the Jews knew about
the True God:
"Then
teaching, Jesus cried out in the temple, even saying, You both know Me, and you
know from where I am. And I have not come from Myself, but He is true, the
One having sent Me, whom you do not know." (John 7:28).
This is
similar to what Paul states about the Gentiles in Romans 1. Perhaps, he could
have said something like this to the Gentiles: "You have known about the True
God ... His knowledge was manifested among you from the start of time ... AND
YOU ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE for your wicked response to his revelation..."
Yet, in
another sense, Christ could say that the Jews did NOT know God (and Paul could
likewise say that the Gentiles "knew not God.").
"Then they said to Him,
Where is your father? Jesus answered, You neither know Me, nor My Father. If you
had known Me, then you also would have known My Father." (John 8:19).
The
Pharisees claimed to believe in "The Father", but Christ emphatically denies
they know about Him at all. Keeping in mind Christ's previous statements, He
must be saying that the Pharisees were INTERNALLY darkened -- they did not have
the Holy Spirit in their consciences to convict them of the truth.
And
it was no better with the unregenerate Gentiles. Indeed, Paul said that prior to
their conversions, the Galatians , "...indeed, NOT KNOWING GOD, you served as
slaves to the ones by nature not being gods."
Without the doctrine
of inspiration, you can have no knowledge of God abiding in your mind. You can
only have opinions and speculations about what you call "God." The Holy Spirit
is required to SEAL, WITNESS and CONVICT a person of the PROPOSITIONS of
Scripture in order for that person to have the knowledge of God abiding in their
minds. "He that believes God has the witness in Himself ... has set to His seal
that God is true ..." And because saving faith is always a SURPRISING CHANGE OF
MIND, when an elect sinner is converted they KNOW IT WITHOUT A DOUBT. "They
shall hear a voice coming behind them in the desert ..." and the voice of God is
the words of Scripture.
This is the basis of assurance of salvation.
Since an elect sinner is TOTALLY in the dark of God's existence (in terms of
KNOWING it with certainty), then when the LIGHT of the gospel shines into his
mind for the first time, he will know that he is justified by Christ's work.
After all, God has certified that EVERYONE believing the gospel record "IS
justified," "IS born of God," and "will NOT come into judgment."
John
5:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, The one who hears My Word, and BELIEVES
the One who has sent Me, HAS EVERLASTING LIFE, and does not come into
judgment, but has passed out of death into life."
In John
5:24, you can see God JOINING together BELIEF and JUSTIFICATION. Everyone who
believes the facts of the gospel, "does not come into judgment." Now,
according to the Apostle John, this declaration -- that believers are justified
-- is THE WITNESS.
"And
this is the witness: that God gave us everlasting life, and this life is in His
Son." (1 John 5:11)
Notice
that John uses the word, "us". He gave "us" -- believers -- everlasting life. In
other words, if someone does NOT know they are a believer, they cannot say, "God
have given me / us everlasting life." They are not confessing full assurance of
salvation, like the Apostle John did. They do not have the faith of the
Apostles. And anyone without the FAITH OF THE APOSTLES is damned. Peter ONLY
wrote to those, who had "obtained like precious faith with us through the
righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:1, KJV)
If your
assurance does not match that of the Apostles, you are lost. You are calling God
a liar. God says that ALL believers will be saved, and you are saying, "I'm a
believer, but I do not know that I'm saved." Well, God says EVERYONE who
believes that Christ was risen from the dead IS SAVED (Romans 10). Clearly, you
are IGNORANT of this promise.
"The
one not believing God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in
the witness which God has witnessed concerning His Son." (1 John 5: 10).
GORDON
CLARK’S FUNDAMENTAL ERROR
Perhaps
you've read Gordon Clark. I have. And I think Clark was right about a lot
things. For instance, I'd agree with him that faith in Christ is simply
intellectual assent to the propositions of the gospel.
This
raises an interesting question.
Can someone believe the gospel, and not
know they are a believer? In other words, if faith is such a simple thing as
merely believing Christ's words, then ... can someone have faith, and doubt
their salvation?
Clark said that believers can doubt their salvation. In
his commentary on the Westminster Confession he agrees that a believer's
assurance can be "diminished" and "shaken". In other words, Clark affirmed that
a believer could doubt whether or not they are a believer.
Something
is wrong here. If a believer assents to the gospel -- that Christ's
righteousness is on all that believe -- then the believer must know that he has
the righteousness. If a believer could doubt their salvation, he must either 1)
not be sure whether or not he believes or 2) know he believes, but doubt his
salvation. Now, if someone is not sure if they believe, they are an agnostic.
And secondly, if a believer could believe but doubt their salvation, then they
must think it's possible to believe and be lost.
To use
an analogy. Can someone be in the light of the sun, and doubt they are in the
light? In the same way, can someone be in the light of the gospel, and not know
they are in the light?
Sadly,
Clark said that the unregenerate have some light. And this made Clark doubt his
salvation. After all, he must have thought, "even if I am in the light....I
could still be unregenerate". This is Clark's one major
presuppositional error. He said that unregenerate people naturally know God. And
this meant, he was never sure whether or not he was "just another unregenerate
man".
GHC said the unregenerate man naturally knows 1) that there is a
holy God, 2) that God is eternal, 3) that God is good, 4) that God is creator,
5) that God has laws etc. So according to Clark, an unregenerate man already
believes 50% of the gospel. Therefore Clark could never be sure if he was not
another unregenerate man who had used his 50% of the gospel and reasoned his way
into the rest. Clark could never be sure if he reasoned His way into the
righteousness from his innate knowledge. Let me contrast Clark with my
own position. I affirm that unregenerate man has no innate knowledge of God, so
I never worry "Am I unregenerate?" Because I think "I have the knowledge of the
righteousness of God. Therefore I am saved. Since unregenerate man has no
knowledge of God innately, I cannot be unregenerate." Poor
Clark!! He said unbelievers had the knowledge of God. Thus, he could never
know whether or not he was saved. After all, he could could just be another
unregenerate person reasoning with their "innate knowledge" into the gospel.
We must deny the unregenerate any innate knowledge of God. That is the
only way assurance is possible. Naturally, men know nothing of God. Their
consciences "are seared as with a hot iron" and they say in their hearts "there
is no God." We are born as Atheists, and naturally live "without Christ ...
without faith, without God in the world." Calling good evil, and evil good, men
have no understanding or any light of truth in their consciences. The "light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." Even
unconverted Paul (Saul) who was "home-schooled" (so to speak) with the oracles
of God, did not know or understand that murdering Christians was evil. "Being
ignorant I did it in unbelief." (1 Tim1:13).
Conversion
from this state is a change of mind. For the first time, God manifests Himself
in a person's conscience, convicting their minds that Jesus is the Christ.
"Because it is God who said, "Out of darkness Light shall shine," who shone in
our hearts to give the brightness of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face [person] of Jesus Christ." The truth comes totally unexpected and totally
unsought after. "I have been found, not by those who sought Me." (Isa 65:1). And
faith is merely the crediting of God's testimony. Nothing more, nothing
less.
Now can someone who believes God's testimony, not know
they are a believer? The Bible says if you have a bare belief of the bare truth,
you are saved. How can a believer doubt they are saved? Why would they call God
a liar? He is The Amen, The Faithful, and True. "Is He a son of man that he
should repent?" He does not lie. And he says, "if you confess the Lord Jesus
with your mouth, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,
YOU WILL BE SAVED."
Allow me to reiterate
a little. This is how a man is converted .... First of all, we start off with an
unregenerate man who is totally ignorant of God's existence. Then, one day, when
reading or hearing the words of God, the Holy Spirit causes the man to perceive
God speaking in them. For the first time, the man will understand. He will
read God testifying that everyone who believes the gospel, "IS justified",
"IS born of God," "IS saved," and "shall NOT come into judgment". Now, if it was
possible for someone to believe the gospel, but doubt their salvation, then that
would mean a believer could CALL GOD A LIAR. Because if a believer could doubt
their salvation, they would be denying God's promise to save ALL believers. And
that's a denial of the gospel. To think, "I believe the gospel, but I am not
sure I am saved" is to imply that someone can believe the gospel and not be
saved. It's just as heretical as thinking, "God lied when he said all believers
are saved."
To all Clarkians -- I think we
both would agree that faith is simply to assent to the gospel -- we
have A LOT in common. However, perhaps I go further that you do. I say that
BECAUSE faith is merely assent, ALL believers must know they are saved. For, how
can you assent to the gospel, and not know it? And wouldn't doubting your
salvation be calling God a liar? He says over and over again "ALL believers ARE
justified from all things". If a believer could doubt their salvation, wouldn't
they be calling God a liar in His promise to them?
John 4:14
says that believers never thirst for the waters of eternal life. Now, if a
believer could doubt their salvation, wouldn't they be thirsty?
"but
whoever may drink of the water which I will give him will not thirst, never! But
the water which I will give to him will become a fountain of water in him,
springing up into everlasting life." (Jn 4:14)
James 1:6-7 says
that those who "pray" doubting can expect nothing from God. Now, someone
doubting their salvation is wavering. Therefore, they can expect nothing from
God.
"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask from God, who gives to
all freely and with no reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in
faith, doubting nothing. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, being
driven by wind and being tossed; for do not let that man suppose that he will
receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, not dependable in all
his ways." (Jam 1:5-8)
2 Corinthians 13:5 says that people who are
not sure whether or not Christ is in them are unregenerate. Someone doubting
their salvation obviously cannot perceive Christ in them.