CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY EDUCATION NETWORK Transcription of Dogmatics I DR. JOEL OKAMOTO and DR. ROLAND ZIEGLER Transcription provided by: Caption First, Inc. P.O. Box 1924 Lombard, IL 60148 1-800-825-5234 FILE: DOG14.WMV NICK RIVKIN: Christians are not the only people with an idea of God. There have always been many gods and many religions. How can Christians explain this? DR. ROLAND ZIEGLER: Indeed, there always have been people, outside of Christianity, and the overwhelming majority I would say universally, that believed in God or a God or gods or whatever you want to call it. So you can say there is a universal concept of God or gods in the world. However, if you then try to define what is common to all these gods, you get into trouble. On the one hand you have the Christian concept of God, a God who is thoroughly transcendent, the creator of the universe, omnipotent, omniscient, and if you compare this Christian concept of God with, for example, the concept of gods in ancient Greece, you see that there is a vast difference. The Greek gods were many, to begin with, and there were quite a bunch of gods that quarreled and were envious and were not the creators of the world but came into being from other gods. They were not, nor are they perfect. They mated with human beings. So what's common to the Christian God and, for example, Zeus or Hera or Hermes or whatever? That's one difficulty. What do we mean when we say "God." It seems to be universal, but on the other hand, if you look at content, then it seems to be dissolving into all particular concepts. Nevertheless, you can say that there is a common at in all these different concepts of God. You can say that common to them is that there is a class or one being that is super natural that does not belong into the created realm, that is superhuman, that has eternal life. How do we explain that? How do we explain this universal feature of religion? Which, by the way, has been taken by some to be proof that there is must God or gods. The Roman philosopher Cicero, for example, spoke about the consensus ********, (publicum) the consensus of the people, as a proof for the existence of God. Well, of course, we as Christians look at a particular way to that. Outside of Christianity in the field of comparative religions, there are different explanations for that faith. How do people come to believe in God? Well, maybe there are gods 1 and there is a certain form of experience that is common to humanity that there is an objective realm. But there are also other theories like that the gods have their existence from personification of natural ******* (pollis) or that the gods are actually deified men that they were strong influential powerful men that after their death were venerated and still powerful and became gods. Or that it is rooted in the worship of ancestors. That our theories common in comparative religions, as Christians, when we want to explain that, we have to look at scripture. And if you look at scripture, we find in St. Paul's letter to the Romans a passage where he talks about that universal phenomenon that all mankind believes in God or has some notion of God. It says in Romans 1: 18 to 20, "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Since what we may know about God is plain --" or you could also translate "-- revealed to them because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." So what Paul is talking here about is that God has made known Himself. Known to everybody. Through creation, everybody can know something about God. And Paul describes this something as His eternal power and divine nature. So all men can know something about God because God has revealed it to them. They can know that there is an eternal being and they can know that this eternal being is of a different class than men. A different class than anything in creation. That He is in a class of Himself. That He is divine. Additionally, there is also a natural knowledge of the will of God and in the same letters Paul writes in the second chapter, "Indeed, when gentiles who do not have the law and do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their conscious is also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them." So all of mankind has also a knowledge about good and evil when she is in there, when it is written in their hearts, which has its origin in God. That's how God manifested Himself to all of mankind throughout the world, a general revelation. Following the witness of St. Paul, we can therefore say that all men have a certain conception of God. This conception entails, as said, a knowledge that there is a God who is powerful and therefore can interfere in the world. There is also a universal knowledge of the will of God that this God actually requires good deeds. But Paul continues his statement 2 about this general revelation of God showing that men actually did not follow it. He says, "For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God forgave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immaterial God for images made to look like mortal men and birds and animals and reptiles." What Paul says here is that empirically, we don't find anybody following this natural revelation but that man has twisted it, distorted it, added to it so that in the end he worships idols. He makes up a God in the likeness of men or beasts. So empirically, we do not find the pure and unadulterated natural knowledge of God in this world. We find it perverted by sinful men. And that explains why the gods of non-Christian religions bear so little resemblance oftentimes to the one true God. The gods of non-Christian religions are actually a combination of some true statements that are derived from the general revelation plus a lot of human invention and fantasy. The result is that if we look then at the concept of non-Christian religions overall, we have to say that these are idols. The result is that people outside of the special revelation actually worship not the true God but idols. I used general revelation and special revelation. That's how we distinguish it. Again, general revelation or natural revelation means the way how God communicates to all of mankind universally through nature. Special revelation, that is how God communicates to us in His word. In history. When we look at general revelation, we see that the Lutheran confessions also teach that. They also teach that there is a certain knowledge. For example, the formula of Concord says, "Dr. Luther very diligently urged the distinction in nearly all his writings and showed in detail that there is a vast difference between the knowledge of God which comes from the gospel and that which is taught by and learned from the law. Since from the natural law, even the ******* (Thethen), had, to some extent, the knowledge of God, although they neither understood nor honored Him rightly." That's kind of a summary of what we just have said. There is a certain knowledge, but it's dim. And it is distorted. A nice explanation of this natural revelation is given by Luther in his commentary on Jonah. Remember the story how Jonah flees from the presence of God? He doesn't want to go to Nineveh, and so he boards the ship and tries to get away to Tarsus at the end of the known world. Well, of course he can't escape God and God sends the storm. And what happens in that storm? Well, all the sailors were 3 afraid and each cried out to his own God. Luther comments on that. "Here you find St. Paul's statement in Romans 1:19 concerning the universal knowledge of God among all the heathen. That is, that the whole world talks about the godhead and natural reason is aware that this God then is something superior to all things. This is here shown by the fact that the people in our text call upon a God, even though they're aware. For if they had been ignorant of the existence of God or a godhead, how could they have called upon Him and cried to Him? Although they do not have true faith in God, they at least hold that God is being able to help on the sea and in every need. Such a light and such a perception is innate in the hearts of all men and this light cannot be subdued or extinguished. There are, to be sure, some people, for instance, the Epicureans, ******* (Plinny) and the like, who denied this with their lips, but they do it by force and want to quench this light in their hearts. They are like people who purposely stop their ears or pinch their eyes to shut out sound and sight. However, they do not succeed in this. Their conscience tells them otherwise. For Paul is not lying when he asserts that they know something about God because God has shown it to them. Let us here also learn from nature and from reason what can be known of God. These people regard God as a being who is able to deliver from every evil. It follows from this that natural reason must concede that all that is good comes from God for he who can save from every need and misfortune is also able to ground all that is good and that makes for happiness. That is as far as the natural light of reason sheds its race. It regards God as kind, gracious, merciful, and benevolent. And that is, indeed, a bright light." That's a rather positive statement. That is, indeed, a bright light. But Luther continues and shows what the problem is. The problem is, as he puts it, "Reason is unable to identify God properly. It cannot ascribe the godhead to the one who is entitled to it exclusively. It knows that there is a God but it does not know who or which is the true God." And in Luther's colorful language, he calls it that reason plays blind man's bluff with God. Reasoning is the knowledge that there is a God but it's kind of like groping in the dark. Trying to grasp God, but it can't by itself. That wouldn't be a problem, but now the problem is that reason says, I got Him. I got God. I know who God is. And so man, natural man, identifies God, oversteps what he knows, and thereby creates an idol. In Lutheran theology, therefore, we go a little away when we talk about the natural knowledge of God, the general revelation. We say that there is something like that. We don't deny it completely. That distinguishes us from some theologians in the 20th century that strongly denied any such idea. The most 4 famous is the Swiss theologian Carl Bart who said you can only know God in Christ. There is no such thing as natural revelation. Following scripture, we have to say, well, Paul talks about a certain knowledge. So we can't ignore that. On the other hand, we reject the idea as if you can have real access to God by natural revelation, as if all religions are the same as it is proposed by the so-called pluralistic theory of religions. So, to conclude that, there's a dim knowledge about the existence of God in all of mankind clouded in human concepts. There is a certain knowledge about good and evil. But because it is corrupted by sin, men fall into idolatry and therefore he needs something else. God must, you know, make known Himself in a different way. Or to put it differently, the term "God" is universal. True. But it has to be redefined. You remember the story about Paul and Barnabas being in Lystra and they healed the paralytic? When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lyconian language, the gods have come down to us in human form. Barnabas they called Zeus and Paul they call Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them. But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd shouting, wait, why are you doing this? We two are only men. Human like you. We are bringing you good news. Telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God who made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them. In the past, He let all nations go their own way, yet He has not left Himself without testimony. He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons. He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy. The people in Lystra, had a definite concept about God. Super natural beings, and they could come in human shape. So when Paul and Barnabas did something which is extraordinary, they thought, no man can do that. They must be gods. Now, Paul still uses the word "God," Theos, but he has to redefine it. He has to say the God, the true God, is not like the gods you think. How does he redefine Him? He tells what He has done. So when we talk about God, the true God, we first and foremost do not talk about abstract definitions, but we recount what He has done. Who is God? As Paul says here, it is the God who has created the world. Remember, there was no such creator in Greek mythology. It is the God who has provided you with all good things through the years and, of course, which is not included in this little snippet from Paul's sermon in Acts, it is the God who sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into this world. 5 (End of DOG14.WMV.)