From: Wisdom 13:1-9
Created Things Tell Us of God
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Commentary:
13:1-9. This is the great biblical text on the proof of the existence of God by
means of analogy. It constitutes a searching critique of many of the philosophies
in fashion at the time, and of idolatry involving the “elements” of nature and hea-
venly bodies (cf. the notes on 11:1-12:2). The line of reasoning here is something
not seen before in the Old Testament, and it is developed in the New Testament
in Romans 1:18-32. Using these passages from Wisdom and Romans, the
Church teaches that it is possible to have natural knowledge of God by working
up from visible creation: “The world, and man, attest that they contain within them-
selves neither their first principle nor their final end, but rather that they participate
in Being itself, which alone is without origin or end. Thus, in different ways, man
can come to know that there exists a reality which is the first cause and final end
of all things, a reality ‘that everyone calls “God” (St Thomas Aquinas, “Summa
Theologiae” 1, 2, 3)” (”Catechism of the Catholic Church”, 34).
The Magisterium of the Church has laid much stress, especially since Vatican I
(1870), on the fact that “God, the beginning and the end of all things, can be
known with certainty from created things through the natural light of human rea-
son” (”Dei Filius”, Chap. 2). Vatican II, for its part, says that “Holy Scripture tea-
ches that man was created ‘to the image of God,’ as able to know and love his
Creator,” and it added: ‘The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is
called to communion with God. The invitation to converse with God is addressed
to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God had
created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence”
(”Gaudium Et Spes”, 12 and 19). By God’s mercy, natural reason is aided by su-
pernatural Revelation, which never contradicts reason or supplants it, but raises
it onto a higher level and enlightens it: “For man to be able to enter into real inti-
macy with him, God willed both to reveal himself to man, and to give him the
grace of being able to welcome this revelation in faith. The proofs of God’s exis-
tence, however, can predispose one to faith and help one to see that faith is not
opposed to reason” (”Catechism of the Catholic Church”, 35).
The created world is itself a (natural) Revelation of God: “Even before revealing
himself to man in words of truth, God reveals himself to him through the universal
language of creation, the work of his Word, of his wisdom: the order and harmo-
ny of the cosmos — which both the child and the scientist discover — ‘from the
greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their
Creator’, ‘for the author of beauty created them’ (Wis 13:5)” ( “Ibid”., 2500). Deve-
loping these teachings, Bl. John Paul II explains: “This is to recognize as a first
stage of divine Revelation the marvelous ‘book of nature’, which, when read with
the proper tools of human reason, can lead to knowledge of the Creator” (”Fides
Et Ratio”, 19).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.