Austin Robbins
…since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and Godhead—have been clearly seen… Romans 1:20
What a paradox! Invisible things being clearly seen. How is it that the Scripture states such a contradictory proposition?
At first blush one would think such a thing to be impossible. If something is invisible it cannot be seen. Yet Paul writes that these invisible qualities are clearly seen!
What is it that, though invisible, is seen? Romans 1:19 states it is what may be known about God. One commentator, explaining this verse, said that the Greek words to gnoston are not what may be known but rather what is known, because if it is merely knowable there would be no need for God to reveal it. Man could find it out for himself. This phrase refers to what is universally known of God as the Creator by all mankind in varying degrees (Marvin Vincent as cited in Wuest 1966: 28).
Even pagan peoples have some knowledge of the Creator. There is no need for a special revelation on that score. As a missionary in Africa, over 30 years ago, I discovered that while tribesmen had a whole pantheon of deities, spirits in rocks, hills, lakes and rivers, they recognized universally one Supreme Spirit who made everything.
Yet this does not mean that God Himself is known by all. Far from it! It is His invisible qualities, eternal power and godhead or divine nature that are known. That word “godhead” is not the usual word for Deity. Used only twice in the New Testament, here and in Acts 17:29, it is the word theiotes and means Godhood or Godness. It emphasizes the quality of Deity—what it is to be God. The normal Greek term for Deity is theotes, used in Colossians 2:9, which emphasizes the person of Deity. God, therefore, has made plain to all men what He is but not Who He is (Wuest 1966: 30).
What is it in the creation that compels men to see the Creator? The marks of creation are, as the Bible says, plainly seen. What are these marks?
All of us can recognize the difference between an object designed to perform a certain function and one which occurs naturally, without apparent design. For instance, a pebble at the bottom of a stream, shaped by tumbling down the bed, bouncing off other stones, smoothed by running water could take on a rather bizarre shape. Sometimes its shape could mimic designed objects, as a triangle, a boat or the outline of a dogs head. Yet it is not difficult to distinguish that from an object designed with a purpose. If a stone were found in that same stream bed having a triangular shape, with two sides flattened and serrated into sharp cutting edges and the third side thick with a groove in it, we would instantly recognize it for an arrowhead. This is because the arrowhead constitutes creative design—that is, design with a purpose. A purposeful design is a far cry from a happenstance shape and is easily recognized by man.
It is to this easily recognized, purposeful design that God refers when He caused Paul to write,
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen…”
Purposeful design is all around us. We see it in the veins of a leaf, the flight of a bird, the tail of a squirrel, and the shape of a dolphin. We see it in the orbit of the moon around the earth, the earth around the sun and the rotation of the earth on its axis, all
BSP 13:3 (Summer 2000) p. 82
giving us days, nights, months and seasons.
Man himself, made in God’s image, designs with function in mind. He produces objects with a purpose behind them. Man has taken a collection of objects, aluminum tubes, sheets of steel, blocks of plastic, wires of various sizes, etc. and formed them into an airliner. Each of those components, by itself, will not fly. Aluminum sheets, tubes, wires, blocks of steel, pieces of titanium, etc. do not fly. But when joined together in the proper way they become an airplane which does fly! Flight comes not from the properties of the materials in the plane but from the order, design and organization of the components. It is not the aluminum and steel which creates flight. It is the mind of the aircraft engineer, the designer, which does so.
Likewise, life itself is not the result of properties of various biochemical components. Even the most simple one-celled organisms contain millions of compounds and molecules formed into various structures. Each of them, proteins, enzymes, acids and bases etc., having highly specialized and incredibly complex functions, is not alive! It is not the properties of the chemicals themselves which produce life. It is the incredibly complex order and organization of the whole which can be said to be alive. Five minutes after death all these components, proteins, enzymes, amino acids, phosphate bases, etc., are still there. But life is not! The orderly arrangement and proper organization has been lost. Life is not the result of material things.
Just as the airliner requires a designer to create the order and organization needed for those pieces of various materials to fly, so life requires the input of a Designer/Creator to come about. Louis Pasteur demonstrated the requirement that life comes only from life. His experiments laid to rest the then popular notion that mud could produce frogs, or rotting meat and flies.
But where did the first life come from? The Bible tells us explicitly. John 5:26 states, “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.” God the Father, having life in Himself, is the Originator of all life. Man can and does recognize the marks of creation. He knows, because God has made it plain to him, that there is One who made him.
Therefore, the Bible says, man is without excuse! Without excuse, because knowing that he is a created being, not an evolved one, not one who made himself, nor one who “just happened.” Man has not returned the reverence and respect due to his Creator. He has not rendered the thanks that is rightfully due to God. Rather, he has exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images, idols, made to look like man. Not content with worshiping the creation, birds and beasts, man has gone on to worship himself. No wonder he is without excuse!
In times past God overlooked such ignorance but now He commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man He appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:30–31).
As long as he has breath anyone can repent and return to the Creator/Savior who made him. Jesus said:
Come unto Me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me: for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Mt 11:29–30).
Millions of men, women and children the world around have done just that. They have returned to Him who made them and who loves them.
Though they have not seen Him they love Him, and though they do not see Him now, they believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for they are receiving the goal of their faith, the salvation of their souls (from 1 Peter 1:8–9).
Bibliography
Wuest, K.
1966 Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, Vol. 1, Romans. Grand Rapids: Erdmans.
And God Created