Darrow Miller and Friends

God Put the Invisible in Plain Sight

  1. Humans Reject the Truth
  2. God Put the Invisible in Plain Sight
  3. Moral Creator, Moral Creation: Why Atheists Deny God
  4. To Reject God is to Dismiss Your Humanity
  5. Our Strange New World of Foolishness
  6. Worship God or Creation: The Great Exchange
  7. Life Brings Its Own Rewards
  8. Pagan Beliefs Produce Pagan Behaviors
  9. All Sexual Behavior Has Consequences
  10. The Defiance of Evil: Human Behavior Hits Bottom

God made invisible things visible through His creation.

In a previous post we saw how human beings suppress the truth. We do not want to recognize an external, objective truth. In our rebellion we desire to be the final arbiter of truth. To be that final authority, to determine what it true and false, right and wrong, we suppress the actual truth.

In today’s text the Apostle Paul argues that truth is clearly revealed for all individuals to see.

… since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1:19–20

without excusePaul continues his argument that though God is invisible, he is “able to be known” through the visible things he has made. In fact, “what can be known about God is plain to them.” It is manifest. Evident. Widely known and well known. All these are included in the definition of the word “plain.” Those who deny God’s existence (aka atheists) are “without excuse.”

In other words, from the standpoint of the Bible, there is no such thing as an atheist, if we define atheist as someone who does not believe in God. There are only people who profess atheism, who say, “I don’t believe in God” but are suppressing the truth. To return to an illustration from a previous post, they are intentionally shoving the “jack” (their knowledge of God) into the “box” of their own closed mind.

At any rate, the professing atheist dismisses Paul’s argument out of hand. Such a mindset, sadly, can conceive of nothing beyond the material realm.

A theist, on the other hand, understands that reality is both natural and transcendent. What is more, a relationship exists between these two realms. And quite significantly, the material world reveals the non-material Creator.

Now it must be stated that while God’s existence “can be known” though His creation, that knowledge is dimmed (Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face, 1Co 13:12 NIV.) As finite human beings, we may know truly of God’s existence but not exhaustively of His nature.

God has revealed Himself in four ways. Two are called special revelation by theologians: God’s written word and the living Word, Jesus Christ. Two are called general revelation, that which is available to all humankind. General revelation comprises God’s works, divided between Imago Dei (image of God) humanity and the rest of creation.

In this text the Apostle Paul is writing about general revelation.

The first testimony is inside man. The KJV clearly reflects this innate dimension of witness: “that which may be known of God is manifest in them.” The writer uses the preposition ἐν (en), “in, inside, within.”

“The heavens declare the glory of God”

One declaration of God’s existence is the internal witness of our own identity, being made in the image of God. We are like God, and unlike the rest of creation, in that we have been given a mind – attributes of intellect, a heart – moral attributes, and a will – attributes of purpose. All these are attributes of God.

See something about God in the night skyDouble helix indicates God as the DesignerThe second witness is the rest of creation, “being understood from what has been made.” The created order, the laws and ordinances that govern the creation, speak to us of the reality of God. From the beauty and majesty of outer space—galaxies and star systems, to the wonder and complexity of inner space—the “language of creation” found in the genetic code and the structure of the DNA, the creation speaks of God.

For all time, since the creation of the world, from our first parents to the present human family, God has revealed himself through His creation. The Psalmist captures this:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. Psalm 19:1-4

Paul uses a figure of speech (called polyptoton if you’re interested) with his repetition of “plain.” Since what may be known about God is plain (phaneros; an adjective meaning “evident, clearly known, clearly seen, visible”) because God has made it plain (The NIV renders this second “plain” as another adjective but it’s actually a verb, phaneroō, meaning “cause to be seen; be disclosed, be displayed; make known, reveal, show to them.”)

The long and the short of the declaration is that God has “disclosed” it so that it is “clearly seen.”

What has been revealed by the created order? The invisible Creator of that order. The universe is real and it manifests a factual order. God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature have been “clearly seen” or “perceived.”

The created order reveals two things to all who will see. First, God’s existence, and second, His supremacy and character.

The creation makes visible the invisible. This seems like a conundrum. How can this be? How can the invisible be visible?

(to be continued)

  • Darrow Miller

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About 
Darrow is co-founder of the Disciple Nations Alliance and a featured author and teacher. For over 30 years, Darrow has been a popular conference speaker on topics that include Christianity and culture, apologetics, worldview, poverty, and the dignity of women. From 1981 to 2007 Darrow served with Food for the Hungry International (now FH association), and from 1994 as Vice President. Before joining FH, Darrow spent three years on staff at L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland where he was discipled by Francis Schaeffer. He also served as a student pastor at Northern Arizona University and two years as a pastor of Sherman Street Fellowship in urban Denver, CO. In addition to earning his Master’s degree in Adult Education from Arizona State University, Darrow pursued graduate studies in philosophy, theology, Christian apologetics, biblical studies, and missions in the United States, Israel, and Switzerland. Darrow has authored numerous studies, articles, Bible studies and books, including Discipling Nations: The Power of Truth to Transform Culture (YWAM Publishing, 1998), Nurturing the Nations: Reclaiming the Dignity of Women for Building Healthy Cultures (InterVarsity Press, 2008), LifeWork: A Biblical Theology for What You Do Every Day (YWAM, 2009), Rethinking Social Justice: Restoring Biblical Compassion (YWAM, 2015), and more. These resources along with links to free e-books, podcasts, online training programs and more can be found at Disciple Nations Alliance (https://disciplenations.org).
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