How Can We Know There Is a God? - Catechism Questions and Answers

Q. How can we know there is a God?

A. Man's conscience and God's works plainly declare there is a God, but His Word and Spirit alone can effectually reveal God for the salvation of sinners. 

Doctrine

Part 1 - General Revelation: Atheism is not a new thing. Throughout the generations, we can find examples of people who have rejected God. Thus, the question might be, how can we know there is a God. Now, there are good proofs given by past and present scholars for the existence of God. However, the authors of the Baptist Catechism, from which this is taken and greatly edited, did not feel it necessary to deal with those. Instead, they argued from Scripture that man's conscience and God's works are enough to prove there is a God. They understood this from the words of the Apostle Paul who wrote in Romans 1, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their own unrighteousness suppress the truth" (v. 18). Let us pause there briefly before continuing. What Paul is saying is that God is in the very act of punishing humanity, by giving mankind over to more sinful lives (vs. 24, 26, & 28) because they are suppressing the truth. Thus, Paul and the writers of the Baptist Catechism believe that at man's core believes and has knowledge--they believe there is a God but suppress it. 

Why is Paul so convinced that all of mankind are God-knowledge suppressors? He wrote, "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse" (Romans 1:19-20). Paul believed that because God's attributes, though invisible, were clearly evident and could not be unnoticed, everyone's conscience was aware of God. This is in agreement with David's words in Psalm 19, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge" (v. 1-2). Thus, it should not surprise us that civilizations separated by mountains, deserts, and oceans usually have at least one thing in common--the worship of a divine being. That is why Paul's words were not primarily an attack on atheists, though there is a clear implication for them, but for those who reject and dishonored the true and living God, the God of the Bible, and worshipped created things instead of the Creator (Romans 1:21-23). 

Part 2 - Special Revelation: Though God can be known from the creation so that our very consciences compel us to believe there is a God, our consciences and God's works are insufficient to make us aware of who the true and living God is and how mankind should come into a reconciled relationship with him. The heavens and our souls cry, "There is a God!" But, apart from God's Word, we are incapable of finding him. Again, looking at the words of the Apostle Paul, but this time in his second letter to Timothy, Paul wrote as an encouragement to the young pastor, "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:14-15). The first part of the answer says that God's Word is necessary for the salvation of sinners, and here Paul noted that the sacred writings, God's Word, is what is able to make one "wise for salvation." Apart from God's Word, and the clear teaching from it, no one can know the true and living God. That was why Paul was so passionate about preaching. He wanted to get the gospel out for the salvation of the nations. In Romans 10 he implores the church in Rome to be a gospel-sending church (vs. 14-15) and in Romans 15 he tells them that his ambition is to go where the gospel had not been preached (v. 20).

Yet, the word of God does not operate alone.  That is why the Baptist Catechism says "his word and Spirit only." The Word of God, if separated from the Spirit of God, has no power, and it cannot bring the miraculous effect of giving new life to a sinner. In 1 Corinthians 2:9, 10, Paul wrote, "But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him'-these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God." Furthermore, in John's Gospel, Jesus says that it is the Spirit of God that brings about the new birth, or what theologians call regeneration (John 3:8), and that the Spirit will convict the world of sin (John 16:8-11). It is only when the Word of God is faithfully communicated and accompanied by the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit that God can be effectually revealed for the salvation of sinners.

Problem

The problem of this passage is likely more evident than in some of the others. The problem is that people, due to our corrupt natures inherited from our first parents due to their sin in the fall, do not honor God, but we suppress our knowledge of him and instead worship moral things while sacrificing the glory of the immortal God. Mankind is hopelessly lost without a true knowledge of God. 

Solution

The solution is that God, infinite in mercy and kindness and love, chose of his own free will to reveal himself to all mankind, after we rejected him, through His works, both in us and around us, and to his elect through His Word by His Spirit. God did not leave us alone in the dark but spoke light into existence and "has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). Through the proclamation of the gospel, Christ atonement has been made known to us, and by His Spirit, we have been born again to respond in faith and obedience. 

Virtue

Given that God, by his own free volition and without anything outside him compelling him, graciously revealed himself to sinful humanity, all of mankind, and especially Christians, and thus we should be humble before God who has not only made himself known but has also made reconciliation and fellowship with him possible through the sacrifice and victory of Jesus. There is no room, especially for the redeemed, to be proud before God or man because we recognize our minuteness before the infinite and almighty God and our guilt in rejecting him before His Spirit awakened us. 

Written by Michael Naakteboren