Not True to the World is Not True to the Word

“Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things he has made…”  (Romans 1:20)

It is commonly stated by Christians that where scientific conclusions contradict the Bible, God’s Word must have the final say.  This sounds like a more pious statement than it actually is.  Of course it is true that the God of all existence has first-hand understanding about the things He has made.  To dismiss His insight into the creation of the heavens and the earth is obviously an expression of insufferable arrogance.  Yet the real question before us is not what God knows about His own handiwork.  The question before us is the separate concern, what does the Bible say about itself with respect to the relationship between revelation and scientific claims?  If the Scriptures don’t agree with the opening statement referenced at the outset, then insisting on the priority of the Bible over scientific pronouncement is a dogmatic viewpoint that does not honor God. 

 

In my most recent postings I stated that, in the name of rationality and the very definition of “truth,” it is a false step logically to give greater authority to the Bible than to empirically-achieved scientific perceptions about the nature of the world.   What, again, does the Bible itself have to say about the matter?  One Scriptural passage stands out as especially explicit and direct with respect to this statement.  The Apostle Paul begins the body of his systematic treatment of the Gospel with the following statement in Romans:

18.  "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who suppress the truth.  19.  For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.  20.  Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things he has made.  So they are without excuse…”  (Romans 1:18-20).

Not only is the above passage the most pertinent in all of Scripture to today’s question, I cannot think of single other biblical reference which argues to the contrary with respect to my point.  With respect to the Letter to the Romans, four implications logically follow from St. Paul’s opening declaration:

1.    Nature testifies to the existence of the Creator, and humans are held accountable (v.18,20) for the conclusions drawn about God from nature.

2.    Nature is not deceptive, but tells the truth about God’s power (v.18,19).

3.    The suggestion that nature is unreliable testimony diminishes human culpability (“so they are without excuse”) for its disbelief in God (v. 20).

4.    The refusal to test the claims of Scripture against the reality of nature is not biblical.

 I am not arguing that scientific perception is infallible.  Scientific knowledge is not identical to nature (consider Kant’s distinction between the phenomenal and the noumenal).  If these two were the same then scientific investigation would in principle come to an end. 

What I am arguing is that the Bible affirms the validity of seeking to understand nature in the confident understanding that nature does not lie.  Even Luther argued the validity of scientists and not theologians making pronouncements about the natural order (Jaroslav Pelikan. Luther’s Works: Genesis. v.I. (Concordia, 1958) p.41. and Pelikan, ed. Luther’s Works: Ecclesiastes, v.XV. (Concordia 1972), p.18.).

For these reasons one cannot claim biblical support for elevating pronouncements from the Bible above the testimony revealed in the physical things that God has made.  The very act of attempting that separating these two involves the sin of “suppressing the truth” (Romans 1:18,19).