RE: [asa] Romans 1:20

What has been conspicuously absent from this thread on Rom 1:20 and natural
revelation is any substantive response to the fact that many secular
non-religious types like Davies and Hoyle and Flew all infer a designer from
nature.

Since this is obviously the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of these
unbelievers working on them in conjunction with the teachings of this
passage, it should be obvious that it is counterproductive to try to erect a
theology against it.

John

-----Original Message-----
From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
Behalf Of David Campbell
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 12:29 PM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: [asa] Romans 1:20

I tried a few handy commentaries on Rom. 1:20 to see their approach.

Geneva (footnotes from mid 1500's version) identifies the general
error as not worshipping in accord with how God revealed.
Wycliffe one volume commentary takes creation as evidence of God's power
Tyndale series (IVP) takes it as declaring that anyone can see that
things are not the Creator.

None mention deducing the existence of a creator. Paul was acquainted
with the more or less atheistic inclinations of some Greek philosophy,
as seen in his taking up some of their points in his Areopagus speech,
but he doesn't seem to take up that issue as a focus in Romans.
Ecclesiastes and Job explicitly take up the question of what one can
find out about God starting from physical observation and conclude
"not much"; in fact, Ecclesiastes indicates that one would not deduce
the existence of God.

Thus, I don't think that Romans 1:20 or any other verse can be taken
as a Biblical mandate to seek for evidences of God in the physical
realm, though I don't think they identify it as inherently wrong,
either.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
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