Romans 1:19

Because what is known of God is manifest in them; for God has manifested it to them. We have already said above that what is known of God is that which they can attain from the order and reasons of this world, as the Apostle himself indicates from what follows, saying that his invisible things are contemplated through the things that have been made. But what is unknown of God is to be understood as the account of his substance or nature; and what its proper character is, I think lies hidden not only from us men, but from every creature: or if at some time there shall be so great an advance of rational nature that it can arrive at this knowledge also, it belongs to God to know. For something of this sort seems to me to be hoped for from those things which are said by the Savior, that no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal him. For he would not have added, And to whom the Son wills to reveal him, unless he knew that there are some to whom he wills to reveal him.

But (as I have said) pardon may be granted to those who are ignorant and do not own themselves to be wise; but it cannot be extended to those who, while they profess wisdom, rather exhibit folly. I am not, indeed, so unjust as to imagine that they could divine, so that they might find out the truth by themselves; for I acknowledge that this is impossible. But I require from them that which they were able to perform by reason itself. For they would act more prudently, if they both understood that some form of religion is true, and if, while they attacked false religions, they openly proclaimed that men were not in possession of that which is true.

The energies of the divine being have always been invisible by nature, and they are never revealed to anybody directly, but they are made known through the creation.

The knowledge of God is plain from the structure of the world. For God, who by nature is invisible, may be known even from things which are visible. For his work is made in such a way that it reveals its Maker by its very visibility, so that what is concealed may be known by looking at what is revealed. This is revealed so that everyone might believe that he is God, who made this cosmos, which is impossible for anyone else to do.

But this glory they invested stocks and stones with. As then he which is entrusted with the goods of the king, and is ordered to spend them upon the king's glory, if he waste these upon robbers, and harlots, and witches, and make these splendid out of the king's stores, he is punished as having done the kingdom the greatest wrong. Thus they also who after having received the knowledge of God and of His glory, invested idols therewith, "held the truth in unrighteousness," and, at least as far as was in their power, dealt unrighteously by the knowledge, by not using it upon fitting objects. Now, has what was said become clear to you, or must one make it still clearer? Perhaps it were needful to say somewhat more. What then is it which is here said? The knowledge of Himself God placed in men from the beginning. But this knowledge they invested stocks and stones with, and so dealt unrighteously to the truth, as far at least as they might. For it abideth unchanged, having its own glory immutable. "And whence is it plain that He placed in them this knowledge, O Paul?" "Because," saith he, "that which may be known of Him is manifest in them." This, however, is an assertion, not a proof. But do thou make it good, and show me that the knowledge of God was plain to them, and that they willingly turned aside. Whence was it plain then? did He send them a voice from above? By no means. But what was able to draw them to Him more than a voice, that He did, by putting before them the Creation, so that both wise, and unlearned, and Scythian, and barbarian, having through sight learned the beauty of the things which were seen, might mount up to God...

What can be known about God, i.e., that God exists and that God is just, is plain to their consciences. For every creature knows that it is not God and that it was made by another.

For in that manner in which the recognition of God is placed within us naturally, even as the blessed Paul said, "The notion of God is manifest in them, for God hath revealed it in them," is faith also naturally implanted in all our thoughts. But as the notion of God was fixed in them, although they worshipped not His nature, and honoured not His Being, yet they worshipped His name, and paid honour to it in all creation, because of natural faith, so we with the faith which is placed in us believe everything, and whithersoever our desire wisheth thither it turneth our faith, and it directeth the natural movements which are in us so that we may see them.

These are the nine luminaries enlightening the soul, to wit, the truth of things, words and actions: of things, that is, of essences, of figures, and of natures: in their "suchness" referring to hidden differences, in their quantity referring to manifest proportions, in their nature referring to mixed properties. The truth of words is threefold, in regard to expressions, arguments, and persuasions: first, in regard to expressions concerning mental concepts; second, in regard to arguments drawing rational agreement; third, in regard to persuasions producing inclinations of the heart. The first is the object of grammar, the second of logic, and the third of rhetoric. The truth of actions is threefold: in regard to proprieties, activities, and lawful relationships. Proprieties are concerned with the observance of conventions; activities depend upon intellectual speculations; relationships are based on civil law. Philosophers offered these nine sciences and gave examples of them. But God has manifested it to them. Later, they sought to reach wisdom, and truth was leading them: and they promised to procure wisdom, that is, beatitude, that is, an intellect having attained its goal. They promised it, I mean, to those who would follow them.

Although God is simple and uniform in himself, nevertheless in a certain way he is hidden and in a certain way is manifest, as the Apostle intimates in Romans 1: What is known of God is manifest in them. For to some the trinity of appropriated attributes is manifest, to whom the trinity of persons is not manifest; and to someone the unity of essence is manifest, to whom the trinity of appropriated attributes is not manifest; and to someone the very trinity of God is manifest, to whom the very unity of essence is not manifest. But this is what is first manifest concerning God, namely his very entity, and in this respect it does not lie hidden but lies open; and therefore it is not doubtable but indubitable.

As the Apostle says in Romans, chapter one, *that which is known of God is manifest in them:* although God is simple and uniform, nevertheless that eternal light and that exemplar represents certain things as it were *exteriorly* and *openly,* but certain things more *profoundly* and *hiddenly.* The first are those things which come about according to the necessary ordering of the divine art; but the second are those which come about according to the disposition of the hidden will. And that which is called a *voluntary* mirror — this is not with respect to exemplified things in the first way, but in the second: and therefore in the eternal reasons, natural things are known by the natural judgment of reason, but supernatural and future things only by the gift of supernal revelation.

Then when he says because that which is known of God, he manifests what he has said, but in reverse order. For he first admits that wise men among the gentiles knew the truth about God; second, he shows that there was ungodliness and injustice among them, at so that they are inexcusable; third, that they have incurred God's wrath, at who, having known the justice of God (Rom 1:32). In regard to the first he does three things. First, he shows what they knew about God; second, from whom they obtained this knowledge, at for God has manifested it unto them; third, how they obtained it, at for the invisible things.

First, therefore, he says: rightly do I say that they have suppressed the truth about God. For they did possess some true knowledge of God, because that which is known of God, i.e., what can be known about God by men through reason, is manifest in them, i.e., is manifest to them from something in them, i.e., from an inner light. Therefore, it should be noted that some things about God are entirely unknown to man in this life, namely, what God is. Hence Paul found in Athens an altar inscribed: to the unknown God (Acts 17:23). The reason for this is that man's knowledge begins with things connatural to him, namely, sensible creatures, which are not proportioned to representing the divine essence.

But man is capable of knowing God from such creatures in three ways, as Denis says in The Divine Names. He knows him, first of all, through causality. For since these creatures are subject to change and decay, it is necessary to trace them back to some unchangeable and unfailing principle. In this way, it can be known that God exists. Second, he can be known by the way of excellence. For all things are not traced back to the first principle as to a proper and univocal cause, as when man produces man, but to a common and exceeding cause. From this it is known that God is above all things. Third, he can be known by the way of negation. For if God is a cause exceeding his effects, nothing in creatures can belong to him, just as a heavenly body is not properly called heavy or light or hot or cold. And in this way, we say that God is unchangeable and infinite; and we use other negative expressions to describe him.

Men had such knowledge through the light of reason bestowed on them: many say: O, that we might see some good! Lift up the light of your countenance upon us, O Lord (Ps 4:6).

Then when he says God has manifested it unto them, he shows by what author such knowledge was manifested to them and says that it was God: he teaches us more than the beasts of the earth (Job 35:11). Here it should be noted that one man manifests something to another by unfolding his own thought by means of such external signs as vocal sounds or writing. But God manifests something to man in two ways: first, by endowing him with an inner light through which he knows: send out your light and your truth (Ps 43:3); second, by proposing external signs of his wisdom, namely, sensible creatures: he poured her out, namely, wisdom, over all his works (Sir 1:9). Thus God manifested it to them either from within by endowing them with a light or from without by presenting visible creatures, in which, as in a book, the knowledge of God may be read.

Now there is very good ground for guessing that religion did not originally come from some detail that was forgotten because it was too small to be traced. Much more probably it was an idea that was abandoned because it was too large to be managed. There is very good reason to suppose that many people did begin with the simple but overwhelming idea of one God who governs all; and afterwards fell away into such things as demon-worship almost as a sort of secret dissipation. Even the test of savage beliefs, of which the folk-lore students are so fond, is admittedly often found to support such a view. Some of the very rudest savages, primitive in every sense in which anthropologists use the word, the Australian aborigines for instance, are found to have a pure monotheism with a high moral tone. A missionary was preaching to a very wild tribe of polytheists, who had told him all their polytheistic tales, and telling them in return of the existence of the one good God who is a spirit and judges men by spiritual standards. And there was a sudden buzz of excitement among these stolid barbarians, as at somebody who was letting out a secret, and they cried to each other, 'Atahocan! He is speaking of Atahocan!'

[Reflecting on his own atheism as a schoolboy, Lewis describes the self-contradictions of the antitheist position as evidence that knowledge of God persists even in denial]

I was at this time living, like so many Atheists or Antitheists, in a whirl of contradictions. I maintained that God did not exist. I was also very angry with God for not existing. I was equally angry with Him for creating a world.

But the most remarkable thing is this. Whenever you find a man who says he does not believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later. He may break his promise to you, but if you try breaking one to him he will be complaining 'It's not fair' before you can say Jack Robinson. A nation may say treaties don't matter; but then, next minute, they spoil their case by saying that the particular treaty they want to break was an unfair one. But if treaties do not matter, and if there is no such thing as Right and Wrong—in other words, if there is no Law of Nature—what is the difference between a fair treaty and an unfair one? Have they not let the cat out of the bag and shown that, whatever they say, they really know the Law of Nature just like anyone else?

It seems, then, we are forced to believe in a real Right and Wrong. People may be sometimes mistaken about them, just as people sometimes get their sums wrong; but they are not a matter of mere taste and opinion any more than the multiplication table.

[Arguing that the universality of the Moral Law across cultures proves it is a real truth discoverable in human nature, not a mere social invention]

I fully agree that we learn the Rule of Decent Behaviour from parents and teachers, and friends and books, as we learn everything else. But some of the things we learn are mere conventions which might have been different—we learn to keep to the left of the road, but it might just as well have been the rule to keep to the right—and others of them, like mathematics, are real truths. The question is to which class the Law of Human Nature belongs. There are two reasons for saying it belongs to the same class as mathematics. The first is, as I said in the first chapter, that though there are differences between the moral ideas of one time or country and those of another, the differences are not really very great—not nearly so great as most people imagine—and you can recognise the same law running through them all: whereas mere conventions, like the rule of the road or the kind of clothes people wear, may differ to any extent.

I remember once when I had been giving a talk to the R.A.F., an old, hard-bitten officer got up and said, 'I've no use for all that stuff. But, mind you, I'm a religious man too. I know there's a God. I've felt Him: out alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that's just why I don't believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone who's met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal!'

Now in a sense I quite agreed with that man. I think he had probably had a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think he really was turning from something real to something less real. In the same way, if a man has once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he also will be turning from something real to something less real: turning from real waves to a bit of coloured paper. But here comes the point. The map is admittedly only coloured paper, but there are two things you have to remember about it. In the first place, it is based on what hundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would be a single glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than walks on the beach if you want to get to America.