Natural Theology, Chapter 1
CHAP. I.
The Scope of the Text. How the Gentiles though without the written Law yet are under Sin. What the Law of Nature is. How Adam had the knowledge of his Creator. What meant by the Inviſible Things of God. Though Inviſible, yet how ſeen. What meant by the Creation of the World. What difference betwixt the Creation of the World, and things made. Why the Apoſtle only mentions God's eternal Power and God-head. How the Gentiles are without excuſe by the Light of Nature.
THe Scope of the Apoſtle in the firſt part of this Epiſtle, is to aſſert and prove the great Doctrine of Juſtification by Faith, and not by the Works of the Law. And to make his way to it, He firſt proveth all men to be under ſin. And all Man-kind being divided into Jew and Gentile; he firſt proves the Gentile to be under ſin, in this firſt Chapter; and the Jew in the Second. And thoſe that are under Sin, cannot be juſtified by the Works of the Law, and therefore muſt of neceſſity have recourſe to the Righteouſneſs of Faith, being convicted of Sin by the Law.
Now leſt it might be argued, How could the Gentile be under ſin, not having the Written Law made known unto them?Ʋnderſtand it of Gentiles without the Church. for it was the Jew to whom were committed the Oracles of God; and where there is no Law, there is no tranſgreſſion. The Apoſtle therefore in this Chapter tells us, they had the Law of Nature, which was God's Law; which though it is not written in Ink and Paper, yet it is written in the Hearts of all Men, and in the viſible Works of God's Creation: and the Gentiles thereupon are convicted to be under Sin, not following the Light and Conduct of that Univerſal Law.
For as a Law is Directive and Preceptive, it miniſtreth Knowledge, and commandeth Practice: So was the Law of Nature to the Gentiles; it had a Light in it whereby they might attain ſome knowledge of God; and it had a force in it to urge them upon the performance of Duty and Service to Him, anſwerable to that knowledg.
But becauſe they darkned this Light in themſelves, as in verſ. 21. Their fooliſh heart was darkned, and they did not follow the conduct of it, but retained the Truth in unrighteouſneſs; hereupon they are convinced of Sin; for they did neither take up thoſe worthy Conceptions of God's Being, which the Law of Nature might direct them to; as the Apoſtle ſpeaks in verſ. 21, 22. neither did they manage their converſation towards men, with that juſtice, ſobriety, equity, and charity, as that Law did both direct and urge them to; as the Apoſtle doth at large declare in the enumeration of thoſe ſeveral Vices, which they lived in the practice of, in the laſt part of the Chapter.
Now this Law of Nature, as written in the Hearts of Men, he ſpeaketh of in the Verſe before the Text; calling it foreign: That which may be known of God, manifeſt in them. And as written in the Works of Creation, he ſpeaks it of theſe words of the Text; For the Inviſible Things of Him from the Creation of the World are ſeen, being underſtood by the things that are made, even his eternal Power and Godhead: And hence he infers they are foreign, without excuſe. And ſo I am come to the Text.
I having already ſpoken from another Scripture at large of the Glory of God, as manifeſted in Chriſt; and of the Glory of Chriſt, as manifeſted in the Goſpel-Miniſtration; my intention from this Text is, to ſet forth the Glaſs of the World's Creation; wherein we may behold, and from whence we may evince, both the Being of God, or his Deity; and many Attributes and Properties of his Being.
And whereas all Theology conſiſteth of two Parts; either that which is called Natural, or that which conſiſteth of Supernatural Revelation; the former I ſhall here ſpeak of.
By Natural Theology, that all may underſtand, I mean that knowledge of God, and our duty to Him, which the Light of Nature may lead Man up to, and which is concreat with his Soul. The Image of God upon Man in his firſt Creation, conſiſted in Knowledge as well as Holineſs; and the knowledge Adam had of his Creator, was partly by the Character of his Being engraven upon his Soul, which is by ſome ſtiled verbum foreign, an implanted Word; and partly by what the large power of his intellectual Faculty might gather from the Works of Creation; by both which he was led to God as his ultimate end. Now the Light of Nature, as it is now found in Man, is the foreign, or the dark and weak remainders of this Image ſtill; which the Apoſtle ſaith the Heathens had, who had nothing of the verbum foreign, or the external Word, either by Writing, or any other way of Revelation.
The Text may ſeem a Paradox; for it ſpeaks of things Inviſible that are ſeen: If ſeen, how are they Inviſible? And if Inviſible, how are they ſeen? And therefore I muſt explain the Text.
1. And firſt I ſhall ſhew what are the Inviſible Things of God, ſpoken of in the Text.
2. How theſe Inviſible Things are ſeen, and underſtood, from the Creation of the World; and the things that are made.
3. How upon the account thereof, the Gentiles are ſaid to be without excuſe.
1. For the Firſt:foreign. By the Inviſible Things of God are meant his Being, and the Properties and Attributes of his Being; and which is expreſt in the Arabic Verſion. Theſe are called the Things of God;Proprietates ejus quae non ſunt viſae. Arab. not as if in God there was Thing, and Thing, or any multiplicity, diverſity, or variety in his Being, as there is in the Beings of Men; where the Mind is one Faculty, and the Will another: the Faculty is one thing, and the Act another; Wiſdom is one thing, and Power another; Habit is one thing, and Operation another; the Whole is one thing, and Parts another: For the Nature of God is perfect Unity, Identity, Simplicity, without any diviſion or compoſition;Mens ſoluta & libera, ſegregata ab omni Concretione. As Cicero ſpeaks of God. Tuſc. q. lib. 1. p. 118. where Mind is the ſame with Will, Act with Power, Wiſdom with Goodneſs, &c. but God ſpeaking to Men, ſpeaketh of himſelf, as we are able to underſtand. And therefore we read of Attributes and Properties in his Being, as if theſe were diſtinct things; which yet are all one in Him; and are his Eſſence and Being, rather than the Attributes of it. Now theſe are the Inviſibles of God.
As God himſelf is ſaid to be the King Eternal, 1 Tim. 1. 17. 1 Tim. 6. 16.Immortal, and Inviſible; and to dwell in Light Inacceſſible, Operationes Dei deſcendunt ad nos, eſſentia tamen manet inacceſſa.whom no Eye hath ſeen, or can ſee: So are all the Attributes of his Being, in themſelves inviſible. Though his Goodneſs, Power, and Wiſdom, are viſible in their Effects; yet as they are in God they are inviſible. For God being a Spirit, cannot be ſeen by a corporeal Faculty; for all ſenſation is made by a ſuitableneſs of the Object to the Senſe: Nay, the Soul it ſelf, though it is a Spirit, while it dwells and acts in the Body, cannot ſee God as he is, becauſe it acteth here according to the Law and capacity of its preſent ſtate: Which is to underſtand, and ſee things by thoſe Species and Images which are preſented to it from the Phancy, and conveyed to the Phancy from the Senſe. But how it may ſee God, and underſtand in its ſeparate ſtate, is not my preſent work to enquire; for the Apoſtle ſpeaketh in the Text, of Man in his preſent ſtate; and ſo theſe things of God are inviſible to him, as to any immediate and intuitive ſight of them. For they are not abſolutely inviſible; for the Soul, when it is fortified and fitted, may be capable of ſeeing them but it cannot in its preſent ſtate; Propter exceſſum intelligibilis ſupra intellectum. Aquin.For the exceſs of the Object above the faculty, as the light of the Sun is to the eyes of a Bat.
2. How are theſe Inviſible Things of God ſaid to be clearly ſeen from the Creation of the World? The Greek word foreign,The Greek word may be beſt rendred, Deſpiciuntur; Are ſeen here below. which we render, clearly ſeen, will not well bear that interpretation: neither can I find it ſo in any other Tranſlation. For the clear ſight of God, and of his Attributes, is rather to be ſeen in Chriſt, than in the Works of Creation; who is called, the brightneſs of his Fathers Glory, Heb. 1. 3. Or, it is rather reſerved for the future, than attained in this preſent ſtate. But yet theſe Inviſible Things of God, though more darkly, may be ſeen from the Creation of the World, and the Things that are made; as the Apoſtle here aſſerts.
Now by the Creation of the World,foreign. is either here meant the beginning of its Being, and ſo the beginning of Time; and then the Apoſtle means, that thoſe Inviſible Things of God have been diſcovered and ſeen, a conſtitutione Mundi, from the firſt beginning of the World, in the things that are made. Thoſe Attributes of his that were Inviſible, did then manifeſt themſelves in viſible effects, and not before.
And this ſenſe the Syriac, The beginning of the World is ſometimes expreſt by foreign, Eph. 1. 4. or by foreign, Mar. 13. 19. but not by foreign.and ſome other Tranſlations do ſeem to follow; though diſapproved by moſt of others: As alſo by moſt of our Modern Expoſitors; Doctor Hammond excepted.
Therefore by the Creation of the World, I conceive, is meant the Things created, eſpecially the firſt Maſs and Chaos; which alone was properly and ſtrictly, the effect of God's Creating Power.Creatio eſt emanatio univerſalis entis ex nihilo. Aquin. Now here is ſeen God's Eternal Power, conſidering that he did Create, not with labour and difficulty, but by his Word; not out of praeexiſtent Matter, but out of Nothing.
Queſt. When the Apoſtle ſpeaks of theſe Inviſible Things as ſeen; Doth he ſpeak of the ſight of the Body, or of the Mind?
Anſw. He ſpeaketh of both, though chiefly of the latter; For the Eye of the Body beholding this Viſible World, the Mind thence, by the help of the Senſe, is enabled to infer and conclude, that this muſt be the Effect of ſome Infinite Power; and ſo the Mind doth ſee this Power: For when the Mind, by reaſoning, hath found out Effects in their Cauſe, it hath an intellectual ſight of what it hath diſcovered. And that [Seeing] is here to be chiefly taken for the Sight of the Mind, the next words more clearly ſhew; [being underſtood by the Things that are made] which run thus in the Greek, foreign. And foreign implies the Acts of the Mind, as it doth raiſe it ſelf up to the knowledg of things, by its agitations and exerciſe: And ſo it ſeeth the Inviſible things of God, in the Things that are made, as it aſcends from Finite, to that which is Infinite; from Viſible, to that which is Inviſible; from Corporeal, to that which is Incorporeal; from Temporal, to that which is Eternal. And by the next words, [the things that are made] in the Greek foreign, we may underſtand the Works of Creation, as they were formed out of the firſt Chaos, which was the proper Object of Creation. So that we may diſtinguiſh in the Text between the Creation of the World, and the Things which are made; taking the word [foreign, or Creation] as expreſſing the firſt Matter of all Things, and [foreign, things made] the ſeveral Creatures, both Animate, and Inanimate, that were educed out of that firſt Matter.
Or,A work curiouſly wrought, is either properly called foreign, if we derive it from foreign, as ſome do; or elſe foreign; and ſo words and ſyllables ſet together in meeter, are called foreign, or a Poem; or the producing of any work, ſecundum praecepta artis, according either to the Precepts of Rhetorick, Muſick, Architecture, &c. as Criticks tell us. as the former word doth properly expreſs, the producing of all things out of nothing; ſo the latter word, the curious frame and order, wherein all things were made.
As when the Apoſtle ſpeaketh of the New Creation, which Believers have in Chriſt; he maketh uſe of both theſe words of the Text; Eph. 2. 10. We are his Workmanſhip, created in Chriſt Jeſus unto good Works. To ſhew the excellent frame of this ſpiritual Work,foreign, &c. it is called foreign, the Workmanſhip of God. And to ſhew the Power of God manifeſted therein, it is ſaid to be Created.
Queſt. But why doth the Apoſtle only mention God's Eternal Power? Are not other Attributes of his Being to be ſeen in the Works of Creation, as his Wiſdom and Goodneſs, as well as his Eternity and Power?
Anſw. The Apoſtle mentioneth the Power of God, becauſe of all God's Attributes, that ſeemeth to be moſt eminent and conſpicuous in the Work of Creation. For it was properly an Act of Power, to make all things out of Nothing; though his Wiſdom was ſeen in the guiding of his Power, and his Goodneſs in making all things good. And the Apoſtle mentions God's Eternity in the Text, which is another Attribute, when he calls his Power Eternal: And by this he ſhews, that as the World had its being in Time, ſo that God who made it, was before it, or elſe he could not have made it, as the Cauſe muſt needs be before the Effect; And what is before the Creation of the World, and every thing that is made, muſt needs be before all Time, (which came in with the Creature, as the meaſure of its duration) and ſo be Eternal.
But yet though only God's Power and Eternity be here mentioned; yet, as a Learned Expoſitor Obſerves,Eſtius in Loc. his other Attributes are included in the Word God-head. As if the Apoſtle ſhould have ſaid, In the Creation of the World are ſeen God's Power, and God's Eternity: But what need I particularly mention any more Attributes of his Being, when his Godhead it ſelf, which comprehends them all, is manifeſted therein.
The laſt particular to be explained is, How the Gentiles are hereupon ſaid to be without excuſe?
A man may be ſaid to be without excuſe, when he hath no Apology to make for himſelf, as the word in the Text ſignifies; and that either with reſpect to malum culpae, the fault committed by him: Or, malum poenae, the puniſhment inflicted upon him. In both, the Gentiles were without excuſe.
1. As to the malum culpae, or the evil of ſin they were guilty of: For they had ſuch means of knowledg miniſtred to them, by the Light and Law of Nature, that might have led them to more venerable thoughts of God, and a more honourable worſhip of him, than was practiſed by them: And alſo to a more righteous and blameleſs converſation amongſt men: So that thereupon they were without excuſe.
2. And then as to the evil of Puniſhment, inflicted for their ſin; God would be juſtified therein, and they left without excuſe, when he ſhould proceed to Judgment.
For God doth, and will manage his Judgments in ſuch Righteouſneſs towards all men, with reſpect to their ſeveral capacities and conditions in this World, that every man may be found without excuſe that falls under them.
How far the Light and Law of Nature may lead a man towards his Salvation, I ſhall not here diſpute: All that the Apoſtle aſſerteth here concerning the Gentiles, is, That they were foreign, or without excuſe thereby.
And the Apoſtle Paul deals with the Gentiles thus particularly, becauſe the Miniſtry of the Uncircumciſion was more peculiarly committed to him than the other Apoſtles. And he doth it rather in this Epiſtle to the Romans, than in any other, becauſe Rome was the chief Seat of the Gentiles Empire in the Apoſtles time; and where Idolatry and moral Wickedneſs alſo did moſt abound, as it uſually doth in ſuch great Cities; and as their own Hiſtorians do abundantly declare concerning it.