THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• from
• Wayne Grudems
• Systematic Theology

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• How do we know that God exists?

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• 1. All people have an inner sense of God.
• 2. We believe the evidence that is found in
  Scripture and in nature.

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• A. Humanity's Inner Sense of God
• Gentile unbelievers "knew God" but did not honor
  him as God or give thanks to him (Rom. 121)
• Wicked unbelievers have "exchanged the truth
  about God for a lie" (Rom. 125), implying that
  they actively or willfully rejected some truth
  about God's existence and character that they
  knew.

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• Paul says that "what can be known about God is
  plain to them," and adds that this is "because
  God has shown it to them" (Rom. 119).
• Some people deny this inner sense of God and even
  deny that God exists. It is "the fool" who says
  in his heart, "There is no God" (Ps. 141 531).

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• Sin leads people to think irrationally and to
  deny God's existence
• Sin will cause people to deny their knowledge of
  God he speaks of those who "by their wickedness
  suppress the truth" (Rom. 118) and says that
  those who do this are "without excuse" for this
  denial of God (Rom. 120).

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• In the life of a Christian this inner awareness
  of God becomes stronger and more distinct. We
  begin to know God as our loving Father in heaven
  (Rom. 815), the Holy Spirit bears witness with
  our spirits that we are children of God (Rom.
  816), and we come to know Jesus Christ living
  within our hearts (Eph. 317 Phil. 38, 10 Col.
  127 John 1423). The intensity of this
  awareness for a Christian is such that though we
  have not seen our Lord Jesus Christ, we indeed
  love him (1 Peter 18).

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• B. Believing the Evidence in Scripture and Nature
• The evidence that God exists is of course found
  throughout the Bible.
• The world also gives abundant evidence of God's
  existence. Paul says that God's eternal nature
  and deity have been "clearly perceived in the
  things that have been made" (Rom. 120).

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• In addition to the evidence seen in the existence
  of living human beings, there is further
  excellent evidence in nature.
• "The heavens are telling the glory of God and
  the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day
  pours forth speech, and night to night declares
  knowledge" (Ps. 191-2).

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• C. Traditional "Proofs" for the Existence of God
• If it is true that sin causes people to think
  irrationally then these proofs are attempts to
  cause people to think rationally or correctly
  about the evidence for God's existence, in spite
  of the irrational tendencies caused by sin.

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• Most of the traditional proofs for the existence
  of God can be classified in four major types of
  argument
• 1.    The cosmological argument considers the
  fact that every known thing in the universe has a
  cause. Therefore, it reasons, the universe itself
  must also have a cause, and the cause of such a
  great universe can only be God.

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• 2.    The teleological argument is really a
  subcategory of the cosmological argument. It
  focuses on the evidence of harmony, order, and
  design in the universe, and argues that its
  design gives evidence of an intelligent purpose
  (the Greek word telos means "end" or "goal" or
  "purpose"). Since the universe appears to be
  designed with a purpose, there must be an
  intelligent and purposeful God who created it to
  function this way.

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• 3.    The ontological argument begins with the
  idea of God, who is defined as a being "greater
  than which nothing can be imagined." It then
  argues that the characteristic of existence must
  belong to such a being, since it is greater to
  exist than not to exist. (below, 92)

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• 4.    The moral argument begins from man's sense
  of right and wrong, and of the need for justice
  to be done, and argues that there must be a God
  who is the source of right and wrong and who will
  someday mete out justice to all people.

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• Because all of these arguments are based on facts
  about the creation that are indeed true facts, we
  may say that all of these proofs (when carefully
  constructed) are, in an objective sense, valid
  proofs, but not one of them is able to compel
  agreement from everyone who considers them.
• The value of these proofs lies chiefly in
  overcoming some of the intellectual objections of
  unbelievers.

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• D. Only God Can Overcome Our Sin and Enable Us to
  Be Persuaded of His Existence
• God must enable us to be persuaded or we would
  never believe in him. We read "the god of this
  world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to
  keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of
  the glory of Christ" (2 Cor. 44).

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• ". . . since, in the wisdom of God, the world did
  not know God through wisdom, it pleased God
  through the folly of what we preach to save those
  who believe" (1 Cor. 121). In this sinful world,
  human wisdom is inadequate for coming to know
  God. Thus, Paul's preaching came "in
  demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that
  your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men
  but in the power of God" (1 Cor. 25).

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• We are dependent upon God to remove the blindness
  and irrationality caused by sin and to enable us
  to evaluate the evidence rightly, believe what
  Scripture says, and come to saving faith in
  Christ.

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THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

• Scripture Memory Passage
• Romans 118-20 For the wrath of God is revealed
  from heaven against all ungodliness and
  wickedness of men who by their wickedness
  suppress the truth. For what can be known about
  God is plain to them, because God has shown it to
  them. Ever since the creation of the world his
  invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and
  deity, has been clearly perceived in the things
  that have been made. So they are without excuse.

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THE KNOWABILITYOF GOD

• Can we really know God?
• How much of God can we know?

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THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

• A. The Necessity for God to Reveal Himself to Us
• Paul says that what can be known about God is
  plain to people "because God has shown it to
  them" (Rom. 119). The natural creation reveals
  God because he chose to have himself revealed in
  this way.

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THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

• "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no
  one knows the Father except the Son and any one
  to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Matt.
  1127).
• The necessity for God to reveal himself to us
  also is seen in the fact that sinful people
  misinterpret the revelation about God found in
  nature.

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THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

• Those who "by their wickedness suppress the
  truth" are those who "became futile in their
  thinking and their senseless minds were darkened
  ... they exchanged the truth about God for a lie"
  (Rom. 118, 21, 25). Therefore, we need Scripture
  if we are to interpret natural revelation
  rightly.
• The Bible alone tells us how to understand the
  testimony about God from nature.

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THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

• B. We Can Never Fully Understand God
• Because God is infinite and we are finite or
  limited, we can never fully understand God. In
  this sense God is said to be incomprehensible
  where the term incomprehensible is used with an
  older and less common sense, "unable to be fully
  understood."

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THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

• "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
  and his greatness is unsearchable" (Ps. 1453).
• "Great is our LORD, and abundant in power his
  understanding is beyond measure" (Ps. 1475).
• David says, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for
  me it is high, I cannot attain it" (Ps. 1396
  cf. v. 17).

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THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

• It is not only true that we can never fully
  understand God it is also true that we can never
  fully understand any single thing about God.
• Job says that God's great acts in creating and
  sustaining the earth are "but the outskirts of
  his ways," and exclaims, "how small a whisper do
  we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who
  can understand?" (Job 2614 cf. 117-9 375).
• Thus, we may know something about God's love,
  power, wisdom, and so forth. But we can never
  know his love completely or exhaustively.

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THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

• This doctrine of God's incomprehensibility has
  much positive application for our own lives. It
  means that we will never be able to know "too
  much" about God, for we will never run out of
  things to learn about him, and we will thus never
  tire in delighting in the discovery of more and
  more of his excellence and of the greatness of
  his works.

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THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

• For all eternity we will be able to go on
  increasing in our knowledge of God and delighting
  ourselves more and more in him, saying with David
  as we learn more and more of God's own thoughts,
  "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How
  vast is the sum of them! If I would count them,
  they are more than the sand" (Ps. 13917-18).

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THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

• Paul tells us that if we are to lead a life
  "worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him," it
  must be one in which we are continually
  "increasing in the knowledge of God" (Col. 110).

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THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

• C. Yet We Can Know God Truly
• All that Scripture tells us about God is true.
• It is God himself whom we know, not simply facts
  about him or actions he does Gods person
  actions are compatible.

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THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

• Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not
  the mighty man glory in his might, let not the
  rich man glory in his riches but let him who
  glories glory in this, that he understands and
  knows me that I am the LORD who practices
  steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the
  earth for in these things I delight, says the
  LORD. (Jer. 923-24)

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THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

• Scripture Memory Passage
• (Verse 3 of this passage tells us that God can
  never be fully known, but the fact that David is
  praising God and speaking to him shows also that
  he does know true things about God and does have
  a personal relationship to him.)

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THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

• Psalm 1451-3
• I will extol you, my God and King, and bless
  your name for ever and ever.
• Every day I will bless you, and praise your
  name for ever and ever.
• Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
  and his greatness is unsearchable.

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THE EXISTENCEANDTHE KNOWABILITYOF GOD