Truly Without Excuse: The Sense of the Divine
by Dan Morley
Introduction
It is striking, as one might observe, that wherever a traveler may peregrinate around the inhabited globe, where there are people, there will be religion. There are sundry beliefs and practices, but there is a general acknowledgement of deity, and an endeavor to worship. The notion is there, but the details vary. Even throughout time (biblical narratives not excluded), the nations of the earth have had their presumed gods and attempted to appease them. Striking as this observation may be, it is no coincidence. By virtue of man being creature, man owes obedience and worship to his creator. Every man, in all parts of the inhabited world, throughout all time since creation, is made to worship and has an awareness of it. Man is made with the natural law of God’s moral standards innately inscribed within, hardwired by God who created man in His image. Although man’s reason has been corrupted by the fall, the noetic effects of sin have not destroyed this sense of the divine in his perception, understanding, reasoning, concluding, knowing, etc. Furthermore, this naturally known sense of the divine is not antithetical to God’s truth, but is true knowledge. Truth, regardless of where it is discovered, is still truth and is of God, who is truth. The truth that God exists is plainly declared by the light of nature in man and in the works of God. This following will argue that God implants the sense of the divine as true knowledge in every man by virtue of being made in His image, and this leaves man without excuse before God.
sensus divinitatis[1]
Many a pen has scratched paper and spilled ink in an endeavor to explain this sense of the divine. Notably, John Calvin wrote that “There is within the human mind, and indeed by natural instinct, an awareness of divinity: “To prevent anyone from taking refuge in the pretense of ignorance, God himself has implanted in all men a certain understanding of his divine majesty.”[2] This awareness of God common to every man is due to what God has divinely inscribed in man made in the image of God. Meredith G. Kline aptly articulated, “Formed in the image of God, man is informed by a sense of divinity by which he knows what God is like, not merely that God is.”[3] Kline further explains, “With the sense of deity comes conscience, the sense of deity in the imperative mode. The basic and general covenantal norm of the imitation of God was thus written on the tables of man’s heart.”[4] As creatures made by a creator, man’s maker has left a divine imprint on creation. Man, by virtue of being creature, owes obedience and worship to his creator. This truth is demonstrably revealed by nature. Knowing that there is a God, creation owes worship to the creator God. Therefore, there is not only a sense of the divine, but a sense of being made for the purpose of worship, or what Calvin refers to as the seed of religion (semen religionis). “So deeply does the common conception [of the seed of religion] occupy the minds of all, so tenaciously does it inhere in the hearts of all!” claims Calvin as he connects the sense of the divine with the seed of religion found existing in man. “Therefore, since from the beginning of the world there has been no region, no city, in short, no household, that could do without religion, there lies in this a tacit confession of a sense of deity inscribed in the hearts of all.”[5]
Richard Muller defines the sensus divinitatis (sense of the divine) as:
a basic, intuitive perception of the divine existence; it is generated in all persons through their encounter with the providential ordering of the world. The sensus divinitatis is therefore the basis both of pagan religion and of natural theology. Because of the fall, the religion that arises out of this sense of the divine, or seed of religion (semen religionis, q.v.), is idolatrous and incapable of saving or of producing true obedience before God. Our sensus divinitatis, thus, is capable only of leaving us without excuse in our rejection of God's truth.[6]
This sense of the divine and capacity for worship leaves a longing to know and enjoy God as the highest good and chief end. The sense of the divine and the seed of religion, however, do not provide the necessary information to know the specifics about the triune God, how to be reconciled to Him, and how to worship Him. Subsequently, there is a longing to worship that attempts to find fulfillment, but inevitably (without supernatural revelation[7]) worships creation as the highest good and chief end, which does not offer any fulfillment of the divinely inscribed longing to praise and enjoy God. This is why there are myriads of religions in every crevasse of the earth that is inhabited by man.
Although Calvin wrote of the sense of the divine, the concept did not originate from him. There are many to choose from, both Christian and secular. Augustine in the 4th century wrote of the restless, longing heart that was made to praise God: “Man, this part of Thy creation, desires to praise Thee. Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee.”[9] Subsequent to Augustine, In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas wrote on the preambles of the faith, which are naturally knowable conclusions concerning God, divine things, or creatures, and capable of being proved demonstratively by philosophical investigation guided and reachable by the light of reason. “The existence of God and other like truths about God, which can be known by natural reason, are not articles of the faith, but are preambles to the articles; for faith presupposes natural knowledge, even as grace presupposes nature, and perfection supposes something that can be perfected.” Aquinas continues: “Yet from every effect the existence of the cause can be clearly demonstrated, and so we can demonstrate the existence of God from His effects; though from them we cannot perfectly know God as He is in His essence.”[8]
The Book of Nature
The book of nature is natural knowledge of God that is available in the natural order to contemplate God in by the light of nature through the senses and reason.[10] It is beautifully articulated in the Belgic Confession:
We know God by two means: first, by the creation, preservation and government of the universe; which is before our eyes as a most elegant book, wherein all creatures, great and small, are as so many characters leading us to contemplate the invisible things of God, namely, his power and divinity, as the apostle Paul saith, Romans 1:20. All which things are sufficient to convince men, and leave them without excuse (BCF 2).
Creation functions as a macrocosm, and humanity functions as a microcosm to contemplate God in. The Synopsis of a Purer Theology speaks on the matter: “We call natural revelation what is either internal, written upon the hearts of all people through natural truth and natural law…, or external, through the contemplation of the things God has created.”[11]
Creation is a theatre of God’s glory. When one is in the midst of mountains, one cannot help but feel a sense of awe and feeling small while surrounded by something much bigger. This is not merely geographical magnitude, but an ephemeral sense of being finitely small in space and time and power. It leaves the awe-struck rational creature longing for more and longing for purpose behind this experience that is both humbling and elevating. As thunder erupts from large, proud clouds, rolls throughout the sky, and rumbles right through the bones, it is booming the glory of God. As a chorus of spring peepers permeates the air of a springtime evening, they are a chorus to the glory of God. As all of creation beams with life and beauty, it bellows like a foghorn signaling the glory of its source: the One who is life Himself, the fountainhead of all life, as all creation exists by participation. All of creation, its life and its beauty, is a sign like a cosmic flashing billboard signifying the glory of the One who made it.
It is not that we look to nature as an exhibit of evidence for a conclusion of divine existence; rather, we look at nature and are made aware that God exists through interaction with nature and conscience.[12] The rendering of man’s conscience as burdened is due to God’s natural law written on man’s heart by nature. According to Fransiscus Junius, “The natural law is that which is innate to creatures endowed with reason and informs them with common notions of nature, that is, with principles and conclusions adumbrating the eternal law by a certain participation.”[13] Junius proceeds to bifurcate into principles and conclusions. Principles, he explains, are immovable and indemonstrable innate knowledge, for example, that God exists. Conclusions, on the other hand, are things that the light of nature leads natural reason to construct from principles; for example, that God must be worshipped, and that we must care for human life and the supports of justice.[14]
Longing for Wrong Made Right
Along with the sense of the divine and the seed of religion is also an awareness of right and wrong. The numerous religious attempts around the globe endeavor to appease deity. This is on account of an accused conscience. The content of what is innately inscribed includes the natural law of God hardwired into man. This natural law is God’s moral standard. This moral law is man’s duty to God and then to fellow man. When God’s natural law is violated, man’s conscience exposes and accuses, thus the seed of religion drives the burdened conscience to want to appease the One to whom they must give account. There is a subsequent longing for rest, for appeasement, for reconciliation, for purpose, for meaning, for rescue, and for cessation of sorrows. This can be demonstrated in the love of rescue stories in literature, such as enchanted lands; clear distinctions of good and bad; light vs darkness; a hero single-handedly destroying an oppressive evil enemy; a young prince achieving victory over a dragon to free the girl from the tower and win her love; and living happily ever after to the end of their days.[15] While the gospel of salvation in Christ is not known by the light of nature, it should not be a surprise that there is a love of redemption stories[16] where the main character gives up his life as a substitute to rescue the ones he loves. These stories get at the heart of something that the human soul longs for, and by nature, is hard-wired to crave.
Reformed Tradition
The Reformed tradition makes use of both books of God’s revelation: the book of nature (general revelation) and the book of scripture (special revelation). The book of scripture is the cognitive foundation of theology and the final and infallible rule in all matters of faith. Grace, however, does not destroy nature; it perfects it. The Reformed tradition does not discount the book of nature but makes use of it as ancillary to the book of scripture. The Second London Confession of Faith, for example, states: “The light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable” (2LCF 1.1). The Baptist Catechism complements the confession: “The light of nature in man and the works of God plainly declare there is a God; but his word and Spirit only do it fully and effectually for the salvation of sinners” (BC 3).
In objection to the Reformed tradition at this point, Van Tillianism asserts that due to an absolute antithesis[17] between the Christian and non-Christian, the non-Christian could not know any fact truly at all unless known through the Christian worldview as a network (or system) of fundamental assumption (presuppositions).[18] By implication of this notion, Van Tillianism asserts that the non-Christian could not have any true knowledge at all. This notion undermines the validity of truth demonstrated and known by the light of nature consisting of God’s eternal power, wisdom, goodness, sovereignty, and justice.[19] Van Til’s thought was not in accord with John Calvin, for example, who argued in his commentary on Acts 14:17 that “God was showed by natural arguments.”[20] Our Annotators in the Matthew Poole Bible Commentary argue from the same text that: “yet they had the law written in their hearts, which they had not obeyed, though God’s manifold mercies, his works of creation and providence, had testified unto them, that he only was to be feared and worshipped.”[21] John Gill also on the same text: “for though they had not the written law, yet they were not destitute of the law of nature; and had, besides, many instances of providential goodness, by which they might have known God.”[22]
Divine Testimony Written
The book of scripture speaks of the book of nature as a book that is not bought, but seen and heard by the universal language of the senses, and inexcusably understood.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;And the firmament shows His handiwork.2 Day unto day utters speech,And night unto night reveals knowledge.3 There is no speech nor languageWhere their voice is not heard.4 Their line has gone out through all the earth,And their words to the end of the world. (Ps.19:1-4)
The heavens declare knowledge to creatures. The handiwork of God proclaims and praises the infinite weightiness and majesty of its maker and upholder. The perpetual course and order of nature is a continual revelation, preaching a call to all mankind to worship God.[23] It pours out speech (discourse concerning God, viz., of his eternal power and divine nature). This speech is a universal voice that transcends the limitations of languages. In this theatre of God’s glory, there is no remote island nor recessed cave throughout all the earth where the voice of creation is not clearly heard to the discovery and knowledge of God, the author and maker of creation. Our Annotators observed that: “There are diverse nations in the world, which have several languages, so that one cannot discourse with or be understood by another; but the heavens are such a universal and admirable teacher, that they can speak to all people under them, and be clearly understood by all.”[24]
While Psalm 19 confirms that knowledge is declared in the book of nature, Romans 1 provides details of what is declared.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. (Rom. 1:19-20)
The Apostle Paul explains that what truth may be known of God is shown, manifest in man, clearly seen, and understood; yet, man subsequently suppresses this truth, rendering him without excuse for having the truth but holding it back instead of the fitting response of glorifying God. Man suppresses (holds) the truth in unrighteousness. Our Annotators put it well: “By truth, understand all that light which is left in man since the fall. There are in all men some common notions of God, his nature and will; some common principles also of equity and charity towards men, which nature itself teacheth.”[25] That which is knowable of God by the light of nature, God has shown it to man. “For God hath showed it unto them …by the light of nature in their consciences, or by the consideration of the creatures, as it follows in the next verse.”[26]
While Van Tillianism asserts that the non-Christian by nature cannot have any true knowledge at all outside of a Christian worldview, the Apostle Paul explains that naturally knowable truths about God are so clearly seen and understood that the unbeliever is left with no excuse before God for his rebellion against God. Our Annotators continue, “It might be further objected… that the notions of God imprinted in their nature are so weak, that they may be well excused; therefore the apostle adds, that the certainty of them is further confirmed by the book of the creatures, which was written before them in capital letters.”[27] What God has manifested to man through the declaration of nature is so well known and understood that the unbeliever cannot be excused on account of ignorance. “But the plain sense is this, that God hath given all men such means of knowledge as sufficeth to leave them without excuse; there can be no pretense of ignorance.”[28] It is not a problem of not possessing true knowledge of God; rather, in possessing true knowledge of God, they fail to use it rightly, putting their trust and praise in themselves rather than God.
Naturally knowable truth is also a knowledge of right and wrong on account of God’s natural law written on the heart of man.
For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them). (Rom. 2:12-15)
The Gentiles who had not received the law of Moses in the giving of the Ten Commandments (the book of scripture) have an awareness of the moral principles of God’s natural law written in their hearts so that their consciences bear witness and accuse them of moral lawbreaking. This is also true knowledge. Both Jew and Gentile are made in the image of God, both are under the curse, and both have an awareness of being lawbreakers. Therefore, all are liable to God’s judgment. The Gentiles have internal principles of right and wrong, and are, by nature, aware of their culpability (Rom. 1:32). That is what the work of the law does. Man’s duty to God and to fellow man is naturally understood in response to their actions being either good or evil.
How do the Gentiles (pagans) know and understand the moral difference between right and wrong, what is just or unjust, or what is honest and dishonest, without it being written on tablets or in a book? It is imprinted in their hearts by the One who made them and upholds them, and consequently, the One to whom they will be called to give an account. This accounts for the diverse religions of those who institute pagan religious practices, being aware and even convinced that God exists, and concluding that He is to be worshipped. Their practices are diverse, idolatrous, and in vain, however, as supernatural revelation is required for knowledge of how to be reconciled to God and worship Him acceptably. Furthermore, Gentiles without the written moral law demonstrate an innate imprint of God’s natural law through their institution of laws to punish evil, such as theft and murder.
Limitations of Nature
Creation functions as signs that point mankind back to God for the sake of knowing, praising, and enjoying God instead of using the creator to enjoy creation as an end in itself.[29] The naturally known truths discovered in the book of nature move man to a contemplation of God and consequent culpability before God. God’s creation and providence praise his existence, divinity, unity, power, wisdom, eternality, and worthiness to be worshipped. However, the book of nature does not reveal that God is triune, gracious, merciful, redeeming, or how he is to be worshipped. The light of nature alone cannot discover the mysteries of the faith. Man requires supernatural illumination.
God created mankind for the purpose of a blood-bought people united to Christ and, by divine intervention, knowing Him personally as a gracious, loving, merciful Redeemer, and declaring his praises in an eternal kingdom of glory. Consequently, natural revelation is incomplete and therefore needs to be perfected by supernatural revelation (scripture). According to the Baptist Catechism, “the light of nature in man and the works of God plainly declare there is a God; but his Word and Spirit only do it fully and effectually for the salvation of sinners” (BC 3). Supernatural revelation makes possible a far greater joy than what can be attained from nature, and that greater joy is living blessedly in this life and the life to come in a world without end through union with Christ. Union with Christ is not knowable from nature; therefore, scripture (supernatural revelation) is necessary. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). Which is why the Apostle Paul wrote: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace” (Rom. 10:15).
By nature, man’s conscience bears witness and accuses him of being a lawbreaker (Rom. 2:14-15). While the light of nature exposes and accuses, it does not save. Knowledge of the way of salvation is made manifest in the book of scripture, viz., that the Son of God assumed our humanity, was born under the law, perfected obedience, suffered and died as a substitute, was raised from the dead in power, was victorious over sin and death, ascended, exalted, reigns on high with all power and authority, and he will return to judge the world. “This is a trustworthy saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). All who do not turn to Christ, receive and rest on Him alone for salvation, will stand condemned and suffer the wrath of God according to His divine justice and immutable holiness. There will be no alternative option, no second chance, and there will be no excuse before God.
Further Uses for Believers
Creation (natural revelation) proclaims that there is a God and that he is to be worshipped.[30] Scripture (supernatural revelation) shows us what we need to know for salvation, godly living, and acceptable worship. Natural revelation is known by nature, whereas supernatural revelation is revealed by God and received by faith. Faith seeks further understanding by rejoicing in natural revelation with a clearer understanding of the God whom creation proclaims, and subsequently rightly enjoying the highest good and chief end through the blessings of creation made for us to enjoy Him and rejoice in Him. The believer rejoices in God and His truth wherever it is found. By consideration and examination of God’s creation and providence, the believer ought to be delightedly led to wonder and admiration of God in His truly manifested wisdom and power. While nature must be perfected by grace, it is not contrary to it. All truth comes from God, and truths that reason can demonstrate are useful to assist and clarify the truths that faith professes as humans made after God’s image contemplate God in naturally knowable truths. The contemplation of common notions will deepen an understanding of God and the pursuit of wisdom of divine things.
Use in Apologetics
The two books of nature and scripture work in concert together.[31] Apologetics is the science and art of defending the Christian faith. In apologetics, naturally knowable truths about God are useful in defending the Christian faith. In other words, theistic arguments can be made from the book of nature by the light of nature. The macrocosmic temple of creation reveals truths about God’s existence, attributes, and operations of creation and providence. The microcosmic temple of the human body and soul likewise reveals truth, and man, by the light of nature, observes principles of common notions, reasons conclusions, and understands that God exists, God is to be worshipped, and man is culpable before God for the true knowledge he possesses. What God made for mankind to enjoy Him through as the highest good and chief end, man, by sin exalts creation and consequently uses God to enjoy creation as the highest good and chief end. The light of nature is not destroyed by this, but remains true and consequently accuses (or excuses) because God’s natural law is inscribed in man.[32]
Augustine was insightful (as quoted above) that God formed man for Himself, created man to praise Him, moves man to delight in praising Him, and consequently, man’s heart that doesn’t rightly praise God is restless. This resulting restlessness should not be pitted against the book of scripture but used in concert with it. According to J. V. Fesko, “For [the natural knowledge of God,] general revelation is the external cognitive foundation, and reason is the internal cognitive foundation, but just because we shift from supernatural to natural knowledge does not mean that God has been sidelined.”[33] The book of nature points man back to God, and the book of scripture points man to Christ, how to be reconciled to God, and how to worship acceptably. Both Christians and non-Christians are made in the image of God, and as a result, can interact with each other in the science and art of defending the Christian faith.
Conclusion
The marrow of the matter is that the sense of the divine by the light of nature is true knowledge and is truly known and truly understood by all mankind by virtue of their being made in the image of God with a reasonable soul and natural law written within. God is not unjust for declaring the unbeliever guilty of willful rejection of God and without excuse. The reality of a multiplicity of religions that hold diverse concepts of the divine does not complicate a belief in one God, but rather reinforces it, given that there is one God who created man in His own image. The plethora of religions and gods is not a result of polytheism (many gods), but is the result of man’s sin against God. A Christian worldview is not required for a true understanding that God exists and is to be worshipped.
All of creation declares in a universal language by the light of nature that God is, and man’s reasonable soul yearns to know and worship that God who is the first cause and supreme being. Because of this knowledge, by the light of nature being true knowledge and truly understood by all, man is truly left without excuse before God. When the veil of this life is lifted, unbelievers will have no one to blame but themselves when they are brought to account and find themselves excuseless, speechless, and hopeless.
[1] Sense of the divine.
[2] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 1, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1967), 43.
[3] Meridith G. Kline, Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2006), 62.
[4] Kline, Kingdom Prologue, 62.
[5] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 1, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1967), 44.
[6] sensus divinitatis. From Richard A. Muller, Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms Drawn Principally from Protestant Scholastic Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017), 331.
[7] “The light of nature shows that there is a God, who has lordship and sovereignty over all; is just, good and does good to all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart and all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures” (2LCF 22:1).
[8] Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, trans. Fr. Laurence Shapcote, OP (Green Bay: Aquinas Institute, 2022), q. 2, a. 2.
[9] Augustine, The Confessions of St. Augustin, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol 1, The Confessions and Letters of Augustin, with a Sketch of his Life and Work, ed. Philip Schaff (1886; repr., Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2004), 45.
[10] “It should be noted that although God is a nature so separated from matter that he cannot be perceived by the senses, yet he regularly declares himself by symbols and what may be called sensible words. These signs which have declared God to us from the beginning are themselves creatures; when natural philosophers [Physici] studied them, they were led to knowledge of God on account of the wonderful properties and qualities of nature. Knowing the series of causes and their relation to effects, and clearly understanding that it is not proper to posit an infinite progression, they reasoned that they must arrive at some highest being, and so concluded that there is a God.” From Peter Martyr Vermigli, Philosophical Works: On the Relation of Philosophy to Theology, trans. and ed. by Joseph C. McLelland (Moscow, ID: The Davenant Press, 2018), 21.
[11] Synopsis of a Purer Theology, vol 1, Disputations 1-31, ed. William Den Boer and Riemer A. Faber (Landrum: Davenant Press, 2023), 3.
[12] Brian K. Morley, Mapping Apologetics: Comparing Contemporary Approaches (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2015), 125, 144.
[13] Franciscus Junius, The Mosaic Polity, trans. by Todd. M. Rester, ed. by Andrew M. McGinnis (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian’s Library Press, 2015), 44.
[14] Junius, The Mosaic Polity, 46.
[15] Andrew David Naselli, The Serpent and the Serpent Slayer (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020), 17-31.
[16] See Brian K. Morley, Mapping Apologetics: Comparing Contemporary Approaches (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2015), 319-21.
[17] “The contrast between Christian and non-Christian thought.” From Morley, Mapping Apologetics, 86.
[18] See Keith A. Mathison, Toward a Reformed Apologetics: A Critique of the Thought of Cornelius Van Til (Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 2024), 114. Greg L. Bahnsen, Van Til’s Apologetics: Readings and Analysis (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1998), 465.
[19] See 2LCF (1677/1689) 4.1 and 22.1.
[20] John Calvin, Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles, vol. 2, ed. by Henry Beveridge, Esq (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2009), 19.
[21] Matthew Poole, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, vol. 3, Matthew-Revelation (1685; repr., Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1990), 432.
[22] John Gill, An Exposition of the New Testament, vol. 2 (London: Mathews and Leigh, 1809), 277.
[23] See Christopher Ash, The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary, vol. 2, Psalms 1-50 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024), 217-19
[24] Matthew Poole, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, vol. 2, Psalms-Malachi (1685; repr., Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1990), 29.
[25] Matthew Poole, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, vol. 3, Matthew-Revelation (1685; repr., Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1990), 481.
[26] Poole, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, vol. 3, 481.
[27] Poole, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, vol. 3, 481.
[28] Poole, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, vol. 3, 481.
[29] Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol 2, Augustine: City of God, Christian Doctrine, ed. Philip Schaff (1886; repr., Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2004), 523.
[30] “The Reformed certainly acknowledge that natural theology is useful for refuting atheists, for demonstrating a deity, for some kind of worship of God (Rom, 1:19-20), and for rendering the pagans, including the philosophers, without excuse (Rom. 1:21-24, 32; Acts 17:24ff.; 1 Cor. 11:13-14), but they consider it in no way sufficient for salvation.” From Petrus Van Mastricht, Theoretical Practical Theology, vol. 1, Prolegomena, trans. by Todd M. Rester, ed. by Joel R. Beeke (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2018), 83-84.
[31] See J. V. Fesko, Reforming Apologetics: Retrieving the Classic Reformed Approach to Defending the Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2019), 193.
[32] Even law enforcement, with knowledge of the relation of the natural law to the conscience of all mankind, while engaged in investigative interviewing, can appeal to honesty and truthfulness to burden a person’s conscience (of violating the moral principle of the 9th commandment) who is knowingly being deceptive and misleading. A person may convince themselves they can evade questioning and consequences of violating legislation, but is not internally convinced that lying is excusable.
[33] J. V. Fesko, Reforming Apologetics: Retrieving the Classic Reformed Approach to Defending the Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2019), 206.
