A Christian's Reasonable Service by Wilhelmus aBrakel (Part 6)

Objection #1: “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them ... so that they are without excuse” (Romans1:19-20). On this basis the following conclusion is made: Since the heathen by the light of nature already know what is to be known of God, and they, not walking according to this light, are without excuse, then in following this light, this knowledge should lead them to salvation. 

Answer: (1) The apostle does not say that they knew all that is to be known of God, but merely that which is to be known from nature, which the apostle limits to “His eternal power and Godhead.” It must be proved that such knowledge is sufficient unto salvation, for we deny it. 

(2) That man is without excuse, because he is cognizant of God and his own duty, does not imply that he by the light of nature should be able to progress to such an extent that he should be without excuse, and therefore be able to come to salvation. It also does not imply that this light was fully sufficient, even if he had lived in accordance with it. The contrary must be inferred: the light of nature convicts man that God is just in condemning him, both because of the wickedness of his nature and because of his opposition to the light which is in him. Thus, this light has no other purpose than to convict him. Even if this light of nature were capable of excusing him in some measure, it should not be inferred that it would do so completely. 

Objection #2: “... not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance” (Romans 2:4); “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us” (Acts 17:27). These texts indicate that the knowledge of nature is adequate to bring about repentance, as well as to seek and find God. Salvation is promised upon repentance, and to find God is salvation itself. Thus, the knowledge of nature is sufficient unto salvation. 

Answer: (1) In Romans 2:4 the apostle addresses those to whom he preached the gospel, Jews as well as Greeks, for he addresses them in the second person “thou,” which he continues to do in the remainder of the chapter. This text is therefore not applicable to this situation. 

(2) Contingent upon the extent of natural light, the natural knowledge of God also does indeed convict of sin, and shows the desirability and necessity of conversion from sin to virtue. Such a conversion, however, is not true conversion which results in a radical external and internal change in man -- a transformation from death to spiritual life, without which no salvation is to be expected. 

(3) In Acts 17:27, the idolatrous heathen were addressed who, in addition to their idols of wood and stone, had an altar with this inscription: “To the unknown God,” whom they ignorantly served. The apostle declared them to be ignorant and taught that the light of nature did not direct them to depart from God in favor of idols; rather, God had given them this light of nature for the express purpose of instructing them concerning their duty, which was to seek God “if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him.” This communicates what man, having fallen away from God, must do, rather than what he is capable of doing, being guilty of having robbed himself of light and life. Man is obligated to seek God, if haply he might feel after and find Him; however, without the wondrous light which God grants to His children in the moment of regeneration, they shall never “feel after Him, and find Him” unto reconciliation and salvation, even though the light of nature may bring them to the realization that God truly exists and wishes to be served in spirit and in truth. This feeling after and finding of God to which the apostle refers, differs infinitely from that feeling after and finding of God by and in which salvation is experienced. 

A Christian's Reasonable Service (part 5) by Wilhelmus aBrakel

Objection #3: Only by faith, and consequently not through nature, does one know that there is a God, which is evident from Hebrews 11:6, “He that cometh to God must believe that He is.” 

Answer: This issue of faith can be viewed in various ways. Nature teaches that God is who He is by virtue of the maintenance and government of all things; Scripture teaches that God is who He is in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). In Hebrews 11:1-40 the apostle refers to the latter, whereas in the previously quoted texts from Romans 1:1-32; Romans 2:1-29 he refers to the former. The recognition of the Godhead by faith does not exclude the knowledge of God from the realm of nature; rather, it includes and presupposes it. 

Question: Relative to the natural knowledge of God the question must be posed: “Can man be saved by virtue of such knowledge?” 

Answer: The Socinians answer this question in the affirmative. The Arminians and some within Roman Catholicism also lean in this direction. We deny this emphatically, however, as is verified by the following: 

First, all natural knowledge of God, whatever its measure may be, is cognizant of God's justice in punishing sin (Romans 1:32), but is ignorant of the satisfaction of the justice of God and of the holiness with which one is able to stand in the just judgment of God. Without this satisfaction no one can be saved, as shall be shown comprehensively subsequent to this. Thus, for them God remains a God who will by no means clear the guilty, and who will recompense everyone according to his deeds. 

Secondly, there is no salvation except in Christ and there is no other way unto salvation but by faith in Christ. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6); “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12); “But without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6); “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:36). 

It is certain that the knowledge of Christ and faith in Christ are entirely absent in the natural knowledge of God. He is revealed only in the gospel, a revelation to which the heathen are not privy. “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations” (Colossians 1:26). Faith can only be exercised in response to the declaration of the gospel. “so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). It is therefore incontrovertible that the natural knowledge of God cannot bring about salvation for man. 

Thirdly, the heathen, one as well as the other, even the wisest and most virtuous among them, are called: (1) fools, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22); (2) blind and dead, “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:18); (3) atheists, without promise or hope, “... strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and ἄθεοι ἐν τῷ κόσμω, atheists, without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). Their condition is denominated as, “and the times of this ignorance” (Acts 17:30).