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Essay 1 (10-24-03)

THE THREE BOOKS OF GOD’S SELF-DISCLOSURE

He did not leave you without evidence of himself – Acts 14:17 (New Jerusalem)

God reveals himself through Holy Scripture, the Bible, but there have been multitudes -- perhaps most people of all of human history -- who never saw a Bible, much less read one. The Bible is God’s revelation to particular people -- covenant people, special people, called for special purposes – the Jews in the Old Testament and the church in the New Testament. It was not intended for all nations.

The wonderful Person of the Bible was given to the world as its Savior -- not a book. The gospel -- the good news about that Person -- is the power of God for salvation – not a book. When people believe and obey the gospel and become disciples of Christ, they are to begin a lifetime study of the Bible – the Scriptures of the community of faith.

If the Bible is a special book for particular people, and if it is has been known and read by comparatively few of the multiplied billions who have lived on planet earth, what are we to make of our text -- God left not himself without witness (that is, to all people) -- as the KJV has it.

The Bible teaches us – if not moral reason as well – that God reveals himself to every person born into this world. This is so evident that the apostle Paul could insist, referring to those who do not choose to know and honor God, "They are therefore without excuse" (Romans 1:20). That is a daring affirmation. If there is no excuse for not recognizing God, the evidence must be persuasive. But the apostle is not talking about knowing God from the Bible.

He is referring to two other "books," even if he does not call them that: the book of nature and the book of human nature. Both books are based upon the creation. All of nature – "the things that have been created" – bear witness both to God’s existence and to his power and goodness. The human being – created in the image of God – bears witness to a higher Being, a first Cause. The design of the universe (all of nature) necessitates a Designer. The intelligence of humankind infers a higher Intelligence.

The two books are open for all to read. In fact, there is no way to avoid reading them. One book is written upon all that we see, hear, taste, and touch – all creation. The other book is written upon our hearts and minds and embedded in our self-consciousness. The two books have such a presence that Paul found evidence of them even in the teaching of pagan poets: "We are also His offspring" and "In Him we live and move and have our very being" (Acts 17:28). How could pagan poets – far from any contact with the Bible – have such knowledge of God?

In Romans 1:19-21 the apostle argues that not only poets, but all people, have ample evidence for believing in a God who is involved in human affairs:

1. What can be known about God is "perfectly plain," for "God has made it plain," as the New Jerusalem Bible renders it (verse 19).
2. Ever since the creation of the world God’s existence – though invisible – and his everlasting power have been "clearly seen" in the things that have been created (verse 20).
3. Therefore, those who do not honor God are without excuse; they really know that God exists (by the evidence before them), but they refuse to recognize him (verse 21).

The apostle’s point is that the problem is not that the "book" is hard to read – it could not be plainer! The problem is the human heart – which chooses not to acknowledge what it sees to be true.

Paul goes on in Romans 2:12-15 to refer to another book of God’s self disclosure -- the book of human nature, or human consciousness. His argument goes like this:

1. Gentiles have sinned and thus will perish, not because they have disobeyed the Bible (or the revealed law), for they did not have the Bible, but because they sinned against the law written in their hearts (verse 12).
2. Jews have sinned and will perish because they have disobeyed the Bible, or the law that was revealed to them (verse 12).
3. Jews and Gentiles are equally guilty of sin in that they disobeyed the "book" God had revealed to them -- the Jews a written law, the Gentiles the moral law in their hearts (verse 12-13).
4. But some Gentiles will be excused or justified because by "nature" – or innate sense – they follow the moral teaching of the Bible, even though they had no Bible (verse 14).
5. These Gentiles – with no book of Scripture – have another book, a "law unto themselves," a moral law written in their hearts -- "their conscience also bearing witness" (verse 15).
6. Other Gentiles, who read that same book within their hearts, sin against that "law unto themselves," and their own conscience will "accuse" or condemn them in that day when God judges the secrets of men" (verses 15-16).

The apostle paints with a broad brush. There is more involved in God’s judgment than what is revealed in the Bible. Every person has a judgment to face, and he will be judged by such light God has given him in the "books" of his self-disclosure. All humankind is exposed to at least two of the books. Some of us have been blessed with all three books. It is evident that "the moral law" – the basis of judgment – is in all three books.

The first murderer, for example, knew that he was not to kill his brother – even though "Thou shalt not kill" was not yet one of the Ten Commandments. It was a law written in Cain’s heart. It was also written in all the things that he could see all about him – that point to the divine attributes of the creator God.

So, two "books" told Cain he was not to kill his brother. This shows that murder is not wrong because it is one of the Ten Commandments. It is in one of the Ten Commandments because it is wrong! God had already made it "plain" in two books.

Once we see that God has given three books and not just one, we will move to a higher level of understanding in several dimensions. To name a few:

1. It will be more evident that All truth is God’s truth -- a proposition that merits our gravest consideration. If there is truth – any truth at all -- in the world’s great pagan religions, such as Islam or Buddhism, it is from God. These religions have to some degree been influenced by all three of God’s books. And whatever truth there is in the arts and sciences studied in our universities it is God’s truth. If the universities ignore the book of the Bible, they base their curricula on the other two books. The social sciences are drawn from the book of human nature. The natural sciences are drawn from the book of nature. Whatever truth I learn about myself or about my world from such studies, I am to accept as truth from God, and respond faithfully to it. They are part of the light God has given me.
2. It negates the distinction usually drawn between the sacred and the secular. The three books in which God reveals himself encompass all there is and all that exists. There is nothing that is not in one of the three books – and it is all from God. It is all sacred. To say that sociology is a secular study and the Bible is a sacred study is to fail to see that "All truth is God’s truth," and that sociology is in God’s library of books as much as the Bible. While the books are all from God – and therefore all sacred and none secular – they have distinct purposes.
3. It reminds us that while all truth is equally true, all truth is not equally important. Whatever truths the three books convey to us, they are equally true – but not equally important! We believe the book of the Bible is infinitely more important in that it conveys to us the message of God’s redemptive love. But still the other two books witness to us of God’s "divine attributes," as Paul puts it, and are therefore very important.
4. It informs us of what might be called "the principle of available light." God does not require one to do what he doesn’t know to do – just as he does not require a blind man to see. But God does require one to respond in faith to such light as he has. One may not yet have the light of Christ as revealed in the book of Scripture – and so his unwillful ignorance is excusable. But he has the light of two other books that plainly reveal the God he is to know and honor, and moral laws that he is to obey – and he is "without excuse" if he willfully and knowingly refuses such light as he has.
5. It should, therefore, temper the judgment we are inclined to make of "the multiplied millions who have never heard the gospel." That they have not yet obeyed the gospel does not necessarily mean that they have rejected God and are lost. God rejects only those who reject him! If that were not true, he would be a demon and not a merciful God who is eager to save. The only fair judgment must be in reference to how those multiplied millions respond to such light as they have.
6. We can be assured that if one responds in faith to any one of the three books he will respond to them all, once he is exposed to them. This is what "justification by faith" means – one is justified when he has a heart for God, a resolve to walk by such light as he has. If he is faithful to but little light, he will be faithful to more light. The Scriptures are replete with such cases. Cornelius – a pagan, one ignorant of the book of the Bible – is described in Acts 10 as "justified" or "righteous," a man of prayer and good works. That was because he walked by the light of the two books God gave him to read. So, God arranged for him to receive the light of the third book! Why would God say to a discouraged Paul in Corinth, urging courage, because "I have many people in this city" (Acts18:10)? They already belonged to God in that they were faithful to such light as they had. Now God wanted Paul to bring to them the most glorious light of all, his unspeakable gift, Jesus Christ the Lord.

So, we have three books to study, not just one. We study one when we "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). We study another when we join David in his soliloquy in Psalms 8: "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him?"

And, of course, we study the most glorious book of all when we follow John in his purpose of writing: "these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31).

We may conclude that in the day when God judges the secrets of men, the lost will be those who will have willfully and knowingly rejected such light as they received, in whatever degree and manner it was given. The saved will be those who responded in faith and obedience to whatever measure of light they received. "It is according to what one has, not what he has not" (2 Corinthians 8:12). 

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