“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
Our text from Romans 1:20 tells us that God has disclosed the reality of His existence to humanity. One way God communicates that reality is through general revelation, or the natural world around us. A good working definition of general (or natural) revelation might be this: “The knowledge of God’s existence that comes through creation to every member of the human family.”
General revelation is “general” for two reasons:
(1) It is general in content.
(2) It is revealed to a general audience.
For instance, the visible world is like a mirror that reflects the existence and power of its Creator. The natural world offers a means of verifying God’s reality and a way to understand some of His attributes. Anyone with the gift of sight may enter the theater of nature and observe the glory of God through creation. That theater encompasses the world we inhabit along with the observable universe.
At a minimum, the natural world makes the following declaration: if a finite universe exists, then something other than itself must have caused it. This causal relationship requires that a “Beginner” of the universe must exist by necessity. In other words, we can’t have a creation without a Creator. The natural world also tells us that this Beginner must possess certain attributes such as power, intelligence, and wisdom.
While countless individuals have neither seen a Bible nor heard the Word of God, they have been immersed in a natural theater where God reveals His divine presence. General revelation doesn’t tell us everything there is to know about God, but it does tell there is a Creator who is worthy of respect and honor. One scholar ties these elements together…
“Does this manifest revelation ‘get through’ to us and yield any knowledge of God? Paul does not leave us in doubt. He says this divine revelation is ‘seen’ and ‘understood.’ To see and understand something is to have some kind of knowledge about it…
God’s wrath is present, not because men fail to receive his natural revelation, but because, after receiving this knowledge, mankind fails to act appropriately… People reject the natural knowledge they have of God. This rejection, however, does not annihilate either the revelation or the knowledge itself. The sin of mankind is in refusing to acknowledge the knowledge they have. They act against the truth that God reveals and they clearly receive.” (1)
Image Attribution: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
(1) Sproul, R. C. (1997). Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Books