Romans 1:18-20
The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): We argue from the creation to the Creator; and this very argument is one proof of the existence of God.
MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): By what they see created, they may easily collect or understand, that there is an eternal and almighty Creator; they may argue from the effects to the cause—but the plain sense is this: that God hath given all men such means of knowledge as sufficeth to leave them without excuse.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): How they knew it? By the things that are made―which could not make themselves, nor fall into such an exact order and harmony by any casual hits; and therefore must have been produced by some first cause or intelligent agent, which first cause could be no other than an eternal powerful God. The workman is known by his work. The variety, multitude, order, beauty, harmony, different nature, and excellent contrivance, of the things that are made, the direction of them to certain ends, and the concurrence of all the parts to the good and beauty of the whole, do abundantly prove a Creator and his eternal power and Godhead.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892):“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork,” Psalm 19:1. He who looks up to the firmament and then writes himself down an atheist, brands himself at the same moment as an idiot or a liar.
JEREMY TAYLOR (1613-1667): Can anything in this world be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth can come by chance, when all the skill of art is not able to make an oyster? To see rare effects, and no cause.
PHILIP MAURO (1859-1952): The theory of Evolution, as a universal or cosmic process, requires us to believe that the entire organic world emerged, at some past era, from the inorganic. Surely, if such were indeed the case, then the latter would contain abundant evidences thereof, showing how individual entities, with their characteristic life changes, came into existence. And not only so, but we should also find everywhere inorganic groupings of atoms gradually reaching forth towards organic existence; and most certainly it would be possible by laboratory methods to transform the one into the other…Going on further we come to creatures having that mysterious thing called “Life.” Does Evolution account for the origin of that? Quite the contrary; Darwin himself declared that spontaneous generation is “absolutely inconceivable.”
THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686): To create requires infinite power. All the world cannot make a fly.
JAMES SAURIN (1760-1842): How absurdly have the philosophers treated of the origin of the world! How few of them have reasoned conclusively on this important subject! [The Psalmist] solves the important question by one single principle; and, what is more remarkable, this principle, which is nobly expressed, carries the clearest evidence with it. The principle is this: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth,” Psalm 33:6. This is the most rational account that was ever given of the creation of the world. The world is the work of a self-efficient will, and it is this principle alone that can account for its creation. The most simple appearances in nature are sufficient to lead us to this principle.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): The manifestation of God, by which He makes His glory known in His creation, is, with regard to the light itself, sufficiently clear.
MATTHEW POOLE: “That which may be known of God”―or, that which is knowable of God by the light of nature.
MATTHEW HENRY: Which implies that there is a great deal which may not be known.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): There are some things which could not be known of God by the light of nature; as a trinity of Persons in the Godhead; the knowledge of God in Christ as Mediator; the God-man and Mediator Jesus Christ; His incarnation, sufferings, death, and resurrection; the will of God to save sinners by a crucified Jesus; the several peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, particularly the resurrection of the dead, and the manner of worshipping of God with acceptance―but then there are some things which may be known of God, without a revelation.
MATTHEW POOLE: The apostle tells us afterwards what he means by the “invisible things of God”―His being and His attributes, particularly His eternity and almighty power.
ADAM CLARKE: His eternal power―That all-powerful energy that ever was, and ever will exist; and Godhead―His acting as God in the government and support of the universe. His works prove his Being; the government and support of these works prove it equally. Creation and Providence form a twofold demonstration of God―First, in the perfections of His nature; and, Secondly, in the exercise of those perfections. His invisible perfections are manifested by His visible works, and may be apprehended by what He has made; their immensity showing His omnipotence, their vast variety and contrivance, His omniscience; and their adaptation to the most beneficent purposes, His infinite goodness and philanthropy.
JAMES SAURIN: Now, this is the reasoning of the Psalmist in Psalm 33:5: “The Lord loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.”―that is to say, it is impossible to consider the works of the Creator, without receiving evidence of His goodness.
MATTHEW POOLE: To which we might add, His wisdom. These things, though invisible in themselves, yet are discernible by His works.
MATTHEW HENRY: Atheists are the greatest fools in nature; for they see there is a world that could not make itself, and yet they will not own that there is a God that made it.
C. H. SPURGEON: To say there is no God is to belie the plainest evidence, which is obstinacy; to oppose the common consent of mankind, which is stupidity; to stifle consciousness, which is madness―As denying the existence of fire does not prevent its burning a man who is in it, so doubting the existence of God will not stop the Judge of all the earth from destroying the rebel who breaks His laws; nay, this atheism is a crime which much provokes heaven, and will bring down terrible vengeance on the fool who indulges it.
