The Existence of God

Frank C. Thomsen | Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Copyright © 2010, Frank C. Thomsen

How Do We Know that God exists?

1. Everyone has an inner sense of God

2. We believe the evidence found in Scripture and nature.

Does everyone have an inner sense of God? Does Richard Dawkins have an inner sense of God? Paul plainly states, “What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them” (Rom. 1:19).

Why, then, do so many deny God?

18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For 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 men are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. 28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Sin leads to an irrational denial of God: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good” (Ps. 14:1). It leads them to look around at the world and say that everything is the result of random occurrences over time. To deny God as the first cause and any cause. To assert that nothing made everything. To deify chance. To exalt “reason.” And when they exalt reason, I do not believe they are exalting reason in the abstract. What are they actually exalting? They are resting on their arrogance and presuppositions. They start with the assumption that there is no God, and they build their moral, ethical, intellectual framework around it.

The Christian’s inner sense of God, however, is active and informed by Scripture and the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:15-16: For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Colossians 1:7: To them (saints) God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

1Peter 1:8-9: Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

(Eph. 3:17; Phil.3:8, 10; Col. 1:27)

Evidence in Scripture and nature

God’s existence is assumed in the Bible: “In the beginning God…” (Gen. 1:1). Paul declared to the crowd in Lystra, “Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy” (Acts 14:17). David also proclaims,

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.

3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4)

The fact that some reject this evidence does not mean that there is a problem with the evidence—there cannot be, as it comes from God Himself—there is a problem with the evaluator of the evidence. Grudem writes, “Thus, for those who are correctly evaluating the evidence, everything in Scripture and everything in nature proves clearly that God exists and that He is the powerful and wise creator Scripture describes Him to be.”

There are traditional proofs for the existence of God—extrabiblical proofs. These are rational arguments based on mostly the light of nature in an attempt to bring people to look at the evidence rationally—again, sin would destroy the rationality in looking at the evidence. These arguments, I would hasten to add, are not dispositive.

1. The cosmological argument—everything in the universe has a cause, so the universe itself must have a cause, and that cause can only be God.

2. The teleological argument—end or goal—since there is a design, and things happen for a purpose, there must be an intelligent and purposeful being who designed and made it.

3. The ontological argument—defines God as a being “greater than which nothing can be imagined” then argues that such a being must exist. Des Cartes followed this a bit.

4. The moral argument—our ideas of right, wrong, and justice must have a source, and that source is one who will judge right and wrong with justice—a source higher that altruism for the sake of the gene pool.

Grudem says that these proofs are valid in that they deal with rational points based on creation, but they are not enough to make a person believe. First of all, if someone agrees with all these arguments, and stops there, he is still lost. These arguments are valid in opening the door to unbelievers’ entertaining truth about God, but they will not convince anyone that he is a sinner and needs to repent. When I was first a Christian, I used to think that if I could convince someone of the truth of the Bible and of the existence of God, that would be enough to bring the person to faith. I had to know the right arguments, memorize Evidence that Demands a Verdict, get my facts straight. But that will never do it. Why not?

2 Corinthians 4: 4: The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5: My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

God must open our eyes to see the truth in our inner being, in nature, and in the Scriptures, to all of which our sin had blinded us. But when God takes away our sin and removes the veil, we can say I was blind, but now I see—I see that God is, and that He is who He says he is, and I am filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Application:

Am I constantly aware that God exists and is who He has revealed Himself to be?

Do I think that God is altogether like me?

Do I know why I think that God exists? Am I prepared to give an account of the hope I have?

Do I develop, feed, nurture, fan into flame that inner knowledge of God, relational knowledge by diligent use of the means of grace? By obeying His commands?

Do I live as if I believed that the God of the Bible exists?

In closing, let us consider the words of Matthew Henry commenting on Hebrews 11:6:

“He must believe that God is, and that he is what he is, what he has revealed himself to be in the scripture, a Being of infinite perfections, subsisting in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Observe, The practical belief of the existence of God, as revealed in the word, would be a powerful awe-band upon our souls, a bridle of restraint to keep us from sin, and a spur of constraint to put us upon all manner of gospel obedience.”