_1_The Natural Knowledge of God

(Notitia Dei naturalis)

Man knows by nature not only that there is a personal, eternal, and almighty God, the Creator, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe, but also that this God is holy and just, who demands and rewards the good and condemns and punishes the evil. This natural knowledge of God is derived

a. From the divine works of creation (, creaturae Dei), which bear the unmistakable stamp of being God-made. Rom. 1:20, “The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead.” This text states that though God is invisible, He can nevertheless be seen by man. Man need only observe the works of creation (), and he will clearly see () God’s invisible Being (), more particularly, His eternal power and Godhead ().1 It is noteworthy that heathen philosophers, using their reason (), employ almost identical language, as when, for example, Aristotle says of God: “Though God is invisible to every mortal creature, He is visible from His very works.” 2 Likewise Cicero: “You do not see God, and yet you learn to know God from His works.”3 (The cosmological argument for the existence of God.)

b. From God’s continuous operation both in the realm of nature and in human history. From Acts 14:15-17 we learn that although God suffered the heathen to walk in their own ways, He nevertheless gave them abundant witness of Himself in the realm of nature. The manner of this divine self-manifestation is described by St. Paul: “He did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” And from Acts 17:26-28 we learn that God manifests Himself also in the history of mankind. God made the human race stem from one progenitor and occupy the entire world according to the chronological and geographical boundaries fixed by Him. The purpose of the history of the human race in both its unity and its diversity is that men should seek () the Lord, if they might feel and find Him ( … ). God’s guiding hand is evident not only in the history of the nations, but also in the life of every individual; for St. Paul adds: “He is not far from every one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being.” And thus “the history of the world is also the judgment of the world.” (Historico-theological argument for the existence of God.)

c. From the divine Law written into the heart of all men. In the realm of nature and in history God approaches man through things outside man. By writing His Law in the heart of man, however, God confronts man directly from within man’s nature. He manifests Himself as the holy and righteous God, who demands and rewards the good and condemns and punishes the evil. St. Paul says that the Gentiles know the judgment of God, (Rom. 1:32), and even without the written Decalog they “show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another” (Rom. 2:14-15). The text states that man’s conscience is God’s tribunal within man and is recognized as such by man. This explains the attempts of the heathen to propitiate God by idol worship, sacrifices, asceticism, etc., and thus to silence their accusing consciences. (Moral argument for the existence of God; the proof from the fact of the Moral Law; proof from “practical reason.”)4

It is evident therefore that atheism of all shades — crass atheism, or pantheism, or polytheism, or agnosticism — is neither rational nor scientific. On the contrary, atheism springs from the suppression and denial of the natural knowledge of God. And this suppression has its source in man’s love of immorality. St. Paul describes the representatives of atheism as men “who hold down the truth in unrighteousness,” (Rom. 1:18). Only he who suppresses his reason () can assert that there are no proofs for the existence of God. Scripture says that God’s invisible nature and His eternal power and deity are clearly perceived from the things that have been made, (Rom. 1:20).

In its sphere the natural knowledge of God is , the truth (Rom. 1:18). The Apology says: “Ius naturale vere est divinum, quia est ordinatio divinitus impressa” (Trigl. 366, 12). This leads to the question whether man can suppress the natural knowledge of God so completely that it fails to function or disappears entirely. Hollaz is undoubtedly right when he denies this: “It is possible that in theory men become atheists. By nature they are not atheists, but they become such when God in His justice forsakes them and the devil blinds them; not by a total eradication of the light of nature, but by the suppression of its function and exercise; nor is man ever an atheist throughout life and permanently, but only when the paroxysm comes upon him. For the law of nature will never permit anyone to entertain as his deliberate and settled conviction the conclusion that there is no God. Though the mind of a wicked person may be put to sleep and fall into a stupor, so that it no longer thinks about God, it is impossible to conceive of anyone whose conscience will not finally assert itself and in the very hour of death accuse man of having ignored God.” (Examen I, cap. I, qu. 5.) This raises another question: Is the natural knowledge of God innate (innata) or acquired (acquisita)? It is both. That it is innate is evident from Rom. 2:15: “The Gentiles show the work of the Law written in their hearts,” . But man can exercise and increase his innate knowledge by contemplating the universe, and thus it becomes notitia Dei acquisita (acquired knowledge of God). Quenstedt says: “The natural knowledge of God is twofold; partly or by nature impressed upon the minds of men in their very origin, innate and implanted, by which men recognize God through certain principles born within them, by certain fragments, as it were, and remains of the divine image, without any research or operation of the mind; partly , or acquired, because it is evolved through the inborn principles of nature through a process of reasoning and the accurate contemplation of created things, or gathered from the works of God in creation and those traces of divinity which are scattered throughout the universe.” (Systema I, 366.)

As to the practical result of the natural knowledge of God, Scripture teaches two things:

a. In man’s present condition the natural knowledge of God is entirely insufficient to attain salvation. It arouses the conscience of man, but it cannot quiet the awakened conscience; it shows man that there is a God and a divine Law, but it does not enable man to keep this Law. The natural knowledge of God leaves man with an evil conscience and under the curse (Rom. 1:19, 21; 1:32; 2:14-15). Without faith in the Gospel, man remains extra ecclesiam Dei and in a state of hopelessness and despair (Eph. 2:12: “Being strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world”).

b. Nevertheless the natural knowledge of God has a positive value. First, it is the foundation of civil righteousness (iustitia civilis); which is indispensable for the maintenance of all social relations. The Apology quotes Aristotle to that effect and sets forth the great value of the “righteousness of reason” (iustitia rationis). (Trigl. 127, 22–24.) For this reason statesmen, also among the heathen, have raised the question whether it is advisable to grant the right of citizenship to avowed atheists. — The natural knowledge of God is of value also for the Church. For one thing, the Church has its temporary home in the body politic; and civil righteousness, which maintains order and peace, thus serves the Church indirectly. (1 Tim. 2:1-2.) Furthermore, the Law written into the heart of man serves as the point of contact when the Church preaches the Law. Luther: “If the Natural Law had not been inscribed and placed by God into the heart, one would have to preach a long time before the consciences are touched; to a donkey, horse, ox, cow, one would have to preach 100,000 years before they would accept the Law in spite of the fact that they have ears, eyes, and heart, as man has; they can also hear it, but it does not touch their heart. Why? What is at fault? Their soul is not so constituted and formed that this preaching would take hold. But when the Law is propounded to man, he soon says: Yes, it is so; I cannot deny it. Of this validity he could not be convinced so quickly were it not for the fact that the Law is written in his heart. Since, however, it is already in his heart, although completely blurred, it is aroused by the preaching of the Word, so that the heart cannot help confessing that we must, as the Commandments read, honor, love, and serve God, for He alone is good and does good not only to the pious, but also to the wicked” (St. L. III:1053). Our Lutheran theologians are very careful when they discuss the natural knowledge of God. On the one hand, they set forth its value in great detail; 5 on the other hand, they stress its inadequacy and utter insufficiency in bringing man to salvation.6 They condemn those who deny that there is a natural knowledge of God as well as the great number of those who admit men to heaven on the basis of their natural knowledge of God. And in this criticism they spare neither friend nor foe.7