GOD IS REAL

As “natural proofs”—that is, as arguments based on man’s observation of and reasoning about nature—these “proofs” do not logically prove the existence of the true God. Louis Berkhof writes that “none of them can be said to carry absolute conviction.” Of course, this fact means not that the existence of God is contrary to logic but rather that these arguments fail to demonstrate the existence of God in a compelling way to those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18). Instead, they must be considered in concert with biblical presuppositions—namely, that the God of the Bible exists, that he is one, and that he is sovereignly powerful over all creation. While God has given sufficient evidence of his own existence in creation and conscience, the unregenerate suppress the truth of general revelation in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18–21). Therefore, all people have within them the awareness that God exists, but in their depravity they suppress and corrupt the knowledge of God revealed in nature.

Because man’s depravity is total, the curse of sin reaches even to man’s mind, so that his thinking is futile, his understanding is darkened, and he walks in ignorance (Eph. 4:17–18). As a result, the natural man’s faculty of reasoning is corrupted by sin. For this reason, believers cannot and should not rely merely upon the “natural proofs” as evidence for the existence of the true God.

In fact, a significantly more radical change must take place for sinful man to come to a true knowledge of the triune God of Scripture. As those whose minds have been blinded to the glory of God revealed in Christ (2 Cor. 4:4), unbelievers do not need more evidence, whether logical or empirical; rather, they need new eyes to properly evaluate the sufficient evidence they already have. They need to experience the miracle of regeneration, in which God quickens the unbelieving heart by shining into it the light of the knowledge of his glory (2 Cor. 4:6). This happens only by the proclamation of the gospel that Jesus Christ is Lord (2 Cor. 4:5).

In the final analysis, then, only the gift of saving faith, imparted by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God (Rom. 10:17; James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23–25), supplies the basis for the knowledge of God (Heb. 11:1, 6). As Berkhof observes concerning Christians, “Their conviction respecting the existence of God does not depend on them [the ‘natural proofs’], but on a believing acceptance of God’s self-revelation in Scripture.” Christians believe that God exists because God has shone the light of his self-authenticating glory into their hearts through the Word of God.⁸

Nevertheless, the “natural proofs” do serve valid ministry purposes—when they are seen not as humanly derived proofs but as God-given biblical summaries of natural revelation and testimonies to the existence of the God of the Bible. As Berkhof helpfully explains,

They are important as interpretations of God’s general revelation and as exhibiting the reasonableness of belief in a divine Being. Moreover, they can render some service in meeting the adversary. While they do not prove the existence of God beyond the possibility of doubt, so as to compel assent, they can be so construed as to establish a strong probability and thereby silence many unbelievers.

Bavinck adds, “But though they are weak as proofs, they are strong as testimonies. They do not force the mind of the unbeliever, but they are signs and testimonies which never fail to leave an impression on the soul of any person.” Therefore, the “natural proofs” can instruct and encourage the believer and silence the unbeliever but only when they are drawn from Scripture and so partake of the unity of Scripture. Only then will these arguments function as they are designed: a valid part of proclaiming the gospel as a testimony to the existence of God.

An important model of properly arguing for the existence of God is Paul’s sermon to the Greek philosophers on Mars Hill (Acts 17). It is important to note, first, that Paul did not engage in dialogue but preached a sermon. He said, “For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23). Paul preached to the philosophers. In so doing, he drew on the Old Testament theology of God and creation and applied it against the false beliefs of Epicureanism, Stoicism, and other philosophies about God, nature, purpose, death, and sin.

For example, Paul proclaimed that God is the transcendent, personal, sovereign Creator by his imperial power: God “made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth” (Acts 17:24). This statement reflected Old Testament theology (cf. Gen. 1:1; Ex. 20:11; Isa. 42:5) and directly contradicted the Epicurean view that everything came about by the chance concourse of eternal atoms. Paul’s assertion also stood against the Stoic concept that everything in the world originated from a fatalistic, impersonal, rational principle (the logos).

Also, Paul confronted the Epicureans with the Old Testament truth that the personal, sovereign God exists independently of man-made buildings: God “does not live in temples made by man” (Acts 17:24). Paul did not deny that God could manifest his presence in earthly buildings such as the Old Testament tabernacle and temple, but rather, Paul denied that God needed physical buildings to live in. This statement was also Old Testament truth. In reflecting on the temple that God told Solomon to build, Solomon said to God, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27). And later, Isaiah delivered a message from God: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?’ ” (Isa. 66:1). Paul’s use of Old Testament theology opposed the Epicurean belief that the gods lived in temples made with human hands.

Paul similarly focused Old Testament theology against the Stoic and Epicurean beliefs about man’s duty to serve the gods properly. The Stoics taught that man should live by impassively accepting and conforming to impersonal fate. They believed that one should live by the principle of apatheia (passionless indifference). The Epicureans taught that man should serve the gods by the principle of atarxia (mental pleasure), which, to them, was a lack of desire for any pleasure. The Stoics and the Epicureans had differing views about what service to the gods should look like, but both systems believed that the gods needed man’s service. Paul did not deny that man should serve God, but he did deny that the true God needed man’s service: “nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything” (Acts 17:25). Paul could have also shown that the Old Testament concept of duty to God was a matter of love for God (Deut. 6:4–25). Regardless, Paul clearly preached Old Testament theology. The true, sovereign God needs nothing from man:

I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. (Ps. 50:9–12)

Yet another example of Paul using Old Testament theology to challenge the false beliefs of the Epicureans and Stoics is Paul’s preaching that God, as the personal, sovereign Creator, governs the life of man and the world by his providence. He provides to all people what they need to live: “He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). And God has given people their national life with its time and boundaries: “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place” (Acts 17:26). This message opposed the Epicurean belief that life arose from the blind-chance concourse of atoms and that everything in history has occurred because of man exercising his free will in cooperation with an impersonal nature. And Paul’s preaching was against the Stoic assertions that life was by the impersonal, fatalistic logos principle and that the nations and all things in history ultimately had no distinctions and resulted from impersonal fate. These teachings echoed Old Testament theology. God personally created all things and gave life to all living creatures (Isa. 42:5), and he foreordained the political existence and boundaries of the nations: “When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God” (Deut. 32:8).

In proclaiming the gospel based on an Old Testament theology of God and creation, Paul expressed (1) that God is the personal First Cause and designer of all creation, (2) that he is independent of the world but sovereign over it in directing his determined course for it, (3) that all life is from him and depends on him, (4) that he is the source and final Judge of morals, and (5) that he has provided a way for sinners to be spared final judgment through repenting of sin and idolatry. So Paul used aspects of the various “natural proofs,” yet he derived these concepts not from human reason but from God’s self-revelation in the Old Testament. Thus Paul used a quotation from the pagan Greek poet Epimenides (ca. sixth century BC) not as a source of truth but to illustrate to the Aereopagites that their own cultural icons knew the truth even if they denied it (Acts 17:28; cf. Titus 1:12). He proclaimed God’s revelation to refute the false theism of the Greek philosophers, demonstrating that the “natural proofs” for God’s existence must not ultimately appeal to human perception or reason but to God’s own self-revelation in Scripture.

In summary, God exists. He exists as he is revealed by the Bible. The reason one must believe that he exists is because he said that he exists. His existence must not be accepted on the basis of human reason, because that is limited to time and space and has been corrupted by indwelling sin. God has sufficiently revealed himself in the Bible, but he has not revealed himself exhaustively. Man can know only what God has revealed in Scripture about his nature and works. But that is sufficient for people to know him in a personal, saving relationship. One way God has sufficiently and personally revealed himself to man is by describing himself in Scripture by several different names. It is to the names of God that we now turn.¹

1 MacArthur, J., & Mayhue, R. (Eds.). (2017). Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (pp. 150–154). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.