Sect. 54Natural Knowledge of God Considered GenerallyNatural Knowledge of God Considered Generally
I. The Catholic doctrine on man’s natural knowledge of God was defined by the Vatican Council: “Holy Mother Church doth hold and teach that God, the beginning and end of all things, can certainly be known from created things by the natural light of reason; ‘for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made’ (Rom. 1:20).… If any one shall say that the One true God, our Creator and Lord, cannot be certainly known by the natural light of human reason from the things that are made, let him be anathema” (sess. iii., De Fide Catholica, ch. 2 and the corresponding can. ii. 1).
Holy Scripture, upon which the council’s definition is based, teaches the same doctrine in many passages.
Rom. 1.
Wisd. 13.
For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those men that detain the truth of God in injustice (ver. 18); (For professing themselves to be wise they became fools, and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man, … and they liked not (ἐδοκίμασαν) to have God in their knowledge). (Vers. 22–28.)
Because that which is known of God is manifest in them (τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ φανερόν ἐστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς). For God hath manifested it unto them (ver. 19).
For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made (ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμον τοῖς ποιήμασι νοούμενα καθορᾶται); His eternal power also and divinity (ἥτε ἀΐδιος αὐτου δύναμις καὶ Θειότης).
So that they are inexcusable. Because that when they knew God (γνόντες τὸν θεόν), they have not glorified Him as God, or given thanks, but became vain in their own thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened (vers. 20, 21).
But all men are vain (μάταιοι μὲν γὰρ πάντες ἄνθρωποι φύσει), in whom there is not the knowledge of God:
and who by these good things that are seen could not understand Him that is (τὸν ὄντα), neither by attending to the works have acknowledged who was the Workman: but have imagined either the fire, or the wind, or the swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the great water, or the sun and moon to be the gods that rule the world (vers. 1, 2).
With whose beauty if they being delighted, took them to be gods: let them know how much the Lord of them is more beautiful than they; for the First Author (γενεσιάρχης) of beauty made all those things.
Or if they admired their power and their effects (δύναμιν καὶ ἐνέργειαν), let them understand by them that He that made them is mightier than they: for by the greatness of the beauty and of the creature, the Creator of them may be seen, so as to be known thereby (ἐκ γὰρ μεγέθους καλλονῆς κτισμάτων ἀναλόγως ὁ γενεσιάρχης αὐτῶν θεωρεῖται). (Vers. 3–5.)
But then again they are not to be pardoned; for if they were able to know so much as to make a judgment of the world, how did they not more easily find out the Lord thereof? (Vers. 8, 9.)
And again: “For when the Gentiles who have not the law do by nature those things that are of the law, these having not the law are a law to themselves; who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them, and their thoughts between themselves accusing or also defending one another” (Rom. 2:14–16). Compare also St. Paul’s discourses at Lystra and at Athens (Acts 14, 17), in which a natural knowledge of God is presupposed as a foundation of and a point of contact with Faith.
II. The doctrine of Holy Scripture and the Council may be expressed in the following paragraphs:—
1. Man is able and is bound to acquire a true knowledge of God by means of his own natural faculties, and is responsible for ignorance or denial of God’s existence, and for any consequent neglect of religious or moral duties.
2. Although it is most difficult for unaided reason to attain a perfect knowledge of God, nevertheless some elementary knowledge of Him is natural to the human mind; that is to say, a notion of God is acquired spontaneously at the very dawn of reason; no external help, certainly no profound philosophical instruction, is needed. The notion of God is likewise so much in harmony with the spiritual nature of man, that no adverse influences can altogether destroy it. This doctrine is not formally expressed by the Vatican Council; but it is contained clearly enough in Holy Scripture, and is universally taught by the Fathers and by theologians (cf. § 2).
3. This knowledge of God is also natural as proceeding from the very nature of human reason, and as being in accordance with its laws; that is to say, this knowledge arises, not from some blind instinct, or blind submission to authority, but from a most simple process of reasoning. Created nature is the medium whereby, as in a mirror, God manifests Himself to the eye of our mind. Our knowledge of Him, therefore, is not a direct or immediate intuition of Him as He is in Himself, but an inferential knowledge of Him as the Cause of created things. The Council directly states only that human reason is unable to attain to an immediate apprehension of God, and that the mediate apprehension by means of created things possesses a real, true, and perfect certitude. Hence the definition does not formally exclude the possibility of some other objective and immediate perception of God, not having the character of an intuition of or direct gazing upon His Essence. Revelation, however, does not recognize any such immediate knowledge, and the attempts made by theologians to establish its existence are not only without foundation, but even tend to endanger the dogma of the Divine Invisibility, and the dogma of the independent force of the mediate knowledge.
4. Our natural knowledge of God is based upon the consideration of the external world, that is, of the things apprehended by the senses, and also upon the consideration of the spiritual nature of the human soul. The external world manifests God chiefly in His Omnipotence and Providence; the life of the soul manifests the inner attributes of the Divine Life. The material and the spiritual world are thus, as it were, two mirrors in which we behold the image of the Creator. The material mirror is less perfect than the other, but for that very reason the knowledge acquired by means of it is easier, more natural, and more popular. Holy Scripture and the Fathers lay special stress upon it.
5. Our natural knowledge of God is aided by the supernatural manifestations of the Divine power, which can be perceived by our senses and intellect, the natural means of our knowledge. Physical and moral miracles, special and general instances of Providence, such as the hearing and answering of prayer, the punishment of evil-doers, the reward of the good, and the like, are instances of what we mean. This species of Divine Revelation also serves to authenticate the verbal Revelation—the medium of Faith,—and is the continuation of natural Revelation. On the other hand, by it alone the existence, and many attributes of God, may be known, and therefore it is particularly adapted to excite, develop, and complete the knowledge founded upon simply natural contemplation. Cf. Franzelin, De Deo Uno, thes. viii.
I. The Catholic doctrine on man’s natural knowledge of God was defined by the Vatican Council: “Holy Mother Church doth hold and teach that God, the beginning and end of all things, can certainly be known from created things by the natural light of reason; ‘for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made’ (Rom. 1:20).… If any one shall say that the One true God, our Creator and Lord, cannot be certainly known by the natural light of human reason from the things that are made, let him be anathema” (sess. iii., De Fide Catholica, ch. 2 and the corresponding can. ii. 1).
Holy Scripture, upon which the council’s definition is based, teaches the same doctrine in many passages.
Rom. 1.
Wisd. 13.
For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those men that detain the truth of God in injustice (ver. 18); (For professing themselves to be wise they became fools, and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man, … and they liked not (ἐδοκίμασαν) to have God in their knowledge). (Vers. 22–28.)
Because that which is known of God is manifest in them (τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ φανερόν ἐστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς). For God hath manifested it unto them (ver. 19).
For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made (ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμον τοῖς ποιήμασι νοούμενα καθορᾶται); His eternal power also and divinity (ἥτε ἀΐδιος αὐτου δύναμις καὶ Θειότης).
So that they are inexcusable. Because that when they knew God (γνόντες τὸν θεόν), they have not glorified Him as God, or given thanks, but became vain in their own thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened (vers. 20, 21).
But all men are vain (μάταιοι μὲν γὰρ πάντες ἄνθρωποι φύσει), in whom there is not the knowledge of God:
and who by these good things that are seen could not understand Him that is (τὸν ὄντα), neither by attending to the works have acknowledged who was the Workman: but have imagined either the fire, or the wind, or the swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the great water, or the sun and moon to be the gods that rule the world (vers. 1, 2).
With whose beauty if they being delighted, took them to be gods: let them know how much the Lord of them is more beautiful than they; for the First Author (γενεσιάρχης) of beauty made all those things.
Or if they admired their power and their effects (δύναμιν καὶ ἐνέργειαν), let them understand by them that He that made them is mightier than they: for by the greatness of the beauty and of the creature, the Creator of them may be seen, so as to be known thereby (ἐκ γὰρ μεγέθους καλλονῆς κτισμάτων ἀναλόγως ὁ γενεσιάρχης αὐτῶν θεωρεῖται). (Vers. 3–5.)
But then again they are not to be pardoned; for if they were able to know so much as to make a judgment of the world, how did they not more easily find out the Lord thereof? (Vers. 8, 9.)
And again: “For when the Gentiles who have not the law do by nature those things that are of the law, these having not the law are a law to themselves; who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them, and their thoughts between themselves accusing or also defending one another” (Rom. 2:14–16). Compare also St. Paul’s discourses at Lystra and at Athens (Acts 14, 17), in which a natural knowledge of God is presupposed as a foundation of and a point of contact with Faith.
II. The doctrine of Holy Scripture and the Council may be expressed in the following paragraphs:—
1. Man is able and is bound to acquire a true knowledge of God by means of his own natural faculties, and is responsible for ignorance or denial of God’s existence, and for any consequent neglect of religious or moral duties.
2. Although it is most difficult for unaided reason to attain a perfect knowledge of God, nevertheless some elementary knowledge of Him is natural to the human mind; that is to say, a notion of God is acquired spontaneously at the very dawn of reason; no external help, certainly no profound philosophical instruction, is needed. The notion of God is likewise so much in harmony with the spiritual nature of man, that no adverse influences can altogether destroy it. This doctrine is not formally expressed by the Vatican Council; but it is contained clearly enough in Holy Scripture, and is universally taught by the Fathers and by theologians (cf. § 2).
3. This knowledge of God is also natural as proceeding from the very nature of human reason, and as being in accordance with its laws; that is to say, this knowledge arises, not from some blind instinct, or blind submission to authority, but from a most simple process of reasoning. Created nature is the medium whereby, as in a mirror, God manifests Himself to the eye of our mind. Our knowledge of Him, therefore, is not a direct or immediate intuition of Him as He is in Himself, but an inferential knowledge of Him as the Cause of created things. The Council directly states only that human reason is unable to attain to an immediate apprehension of God, and that the mediate apprehension by means of created things possesses a real, true, and perfect certitude. Hence the definition does not formally exclude the possibility of some other objective and immediate perception of God, not having the character of an intuition of or direct gazing upon His Essence. Revelation, however, does not recognize any such immediate knowledge, and the attempts made by theologians to establish its existence are not only without foundation, but even tend to endanger the dogma of the Divine Invisibility, and the dogma of the independent force of the mediate knowledge.
4. Our natural knowledge of God is based upon the consideration of the external world, that is, of the things apprehended by the senses, and also upon the consideration of the spiritual nature of the human soul. The external world manifests God chiefly in His Omnipotence and Providence; the life of the soul manifests the inner attributes of the Divine Life. The material and the spiritual world are thus, as it were, two mirrors in which we behold the image of the Creator. The material mirror is less perfect than the other, but for that very reason the knowledge acquired by means of it is easier, more natural, and more popular. Holy Scripture and the Fathers lay special stress upon it.
5. Our natural knowledge of God is aided by the supernatural manifestations of the Divine power, which can be perceived by our senses and intellect, the natural means of our knowledge. Physical and moral miracles, special and general instances of Providence, such as the hearing and answering of prayer, the punishment of evil-doers, the reward of the good, and the like, are instances of what we mean. This species of Divine Revelation also serves to authenticate the verbal Revelation—the medium of Faith,—and is the continuation of natural Revelation. On the other hand, by it alone the existence, and many attributes of God, may be known, and therefore it is particularly adapted to excite, develop, and complete the knowledge founded upon simply natural contemplation. Cf. Franzelin, De Deo Uno, thes. viii.
Seção 19% da obra, de A Manual of Catholic Theology (Wilhelm & Scannell, sobre a Dogmatik de Scheeben). Ver o original.