Creation Makes God Known

God is good and loves humankind, and he cares for the souls he has made. But he is by nature invisible and beyond comprehension, having his being beyond all created existence, and for this reason the human race was likely to miss the way to the knowledge of him, since they are made out of nothing while he is unmade. That is why God, by his own Word, gave the universe the order it has: so that, since he is invisible by nature, people might be able to know him at least by his works. For often an artist is known by his works even when he is not seen. They tell of Phidias the sculptor that his works of art, by their symmetry and the proportion of their parts, reveal Phidias to those who see them, although he is not there. In the same way, from the order of the universe one ought to perceive God, its Maker and Craftsman, even though he is not seen with the eyes of the body. For God did not take his stand on his invisible nature (let no one plead that as an excuse) and leave himself wholly unknown to people. As I said above, he so ordered creation that, though he is invisible by nature, he may yet be known by his works. [a]

I say this not on my own authority, but on the strength of what I learned from men who have spoken about God. Among them is Paul, who writes this to the Romans: “For since the creation of the world his invisible things are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” And to the Lycaonians he speaks out and says, “We too are men, subject to the same feelings as you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these empty things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In the generations gone by he let all nations walk in their own ways. And yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”

For who sees the circle of the heaven, the course of the sun and the moon, and the positions and movements of the other stars, and can resist the conclusion that they are not ordered by themselves but have a maker distinct from themselves who orders them? They move in opposite and different directions, and yet in all their difference they keep, with one accord, a consistent order. Or who sees the sun rising by day and the moon shining by night, waning and waxing without variation according to exactly the same number of days, and some of the stars running their courses in orbits various and manifold, while others move without wandering, and can fail to perceive that they surely have a creator to guide them?