Romans 1:19-20

Romans 1:19-20

The wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven against godless men because they have suppressed the truth. How can these men be guilty of suppressing the truth? Good question.

Verse 19 says this, “...because that which is known about God is evident within them for God made it evident to them.”

Verse 20 says, “for since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse.”

Known (1110) – Greek word, Gnostos – to perceive, know, learn, recognize. The Greeks used it as a synonym for noetos which means to know with ones mind, hence that which could be known, capable of being known.

The grammatical structure here in verse 19 makes it clear that God is knowable or known in His power in creation. God can be known by man because of the demonstration of His power in His creation.

The question came to my mind, what then is unknowable? Is there anything that is unknowable. Several examples did come to my mind. For instance, the trinity. While I can explain the complexities of it, I cannot KNOW how it works. I cannot KNOW how three person are one. The same is true of God's eternality. He never had a beginning. I cannot KNOW how this is. My mind cannot fathom no beginning. Everything in my reality has a beginning. In addition, while we can know how certain things interact (chemicals and such) we cannot KNOW why they do. For instance, a match. We know how to make it light and burn and we know what chemicals cause it, but we cannot KNOW why those chemicals interact the way they do. It was just designed that way by God. I am now scholar, so maybe I am wrong in that we do not KNOW why certain chemicals interact, but to my understanding, we know that they do, but not why they do.

In this sense then, God is knowable. While we may not KNOW everything about Him, we know that HE IS by the power revealed in His creation.

Evident (5318) – Greek Word, Phaneros – to shine, to make shine, or to cause to appear, apparent,. Manifest, plain, apparent, manifest with the idea of being known, apparent in the sense of being public, open, publicly famous or eminent.

That which is known about God is evident, plain, apparent, open, manifest, public in them. It is no mystery. It is not hidden. It is laid out wide open, plain, and clear.

Made it evident (5319) – Greek Word ,Phaneroo – to make manifest, make known, show. To reveal, take the lid off. In this sense, it means to denote the act of divine revelation.

This KNOWING, this PLAIN AND CLEAR KNOWLEDGE of God was a DIVINE REVELATION. GOD HIMSELF MADE IT KNOWN. This is divine and incredible! God wanted His creation to KNOW Him. He is not some distant and hidden God whom we have to seek. He is not running or hiding. He has put Himself forth and revealed Himself to us.

Creation (2937) – Greek Word, Ktisis – a founding. I.e. of a city, colonization of a habitable place. Creation in a passive (receiving the action) sense, what is created. The sum total of what was created. Denotes particularly the individual created or what is created. The sum total of what God has created, the creation.

In other words, since the founding of the world, since all was created and made, God has been evident in it.

world (2889) – Greek word, Kosmos – world. That which pertains to space and not time. The sum total of the material universe.

In other words, since the creation of the world; the founding, forming, and making of all existing things. Nothing is excluded from this.

For, since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes have been clearly seen. He explains what they invisible attributes are.

Invisible attributes:

1. Eternal (126) Power – Aidios, ever, always, eternal, absolutely, without beginning or end, perpetual, without end.
His power has always been. There has never been a beginning to it and there will never be an end. This shoots the teaching Christ began as a man and become God.

2. Divine Nature (2305) – Theiotes – divinity. This is the only place this term is used in all of scripture. A synonym is the Greek word, theios, which mean divine, power,.

What does it mean to be divine? When I looked it up in the dictionary, the most common sense is that it referred to one who is deity, one who is God. To call one divine, was to call one a god, a supreme being. In other words, to be divine, is to considered a god. In this case, Paul is saying to God's divinity was clear from the beginning of creation.


Understood (3539) – Greek word, Noeo – to perceive, observe. From the Greek word, Nous, the mind. To perceive with thought coming into conscienceless as distinct perception of senses. To mark, understand, apprehend, discern.

These two verses are powerful. How do I bring this all into a clear thought?

That which is KNOWN about God is clear, open, and obvious to us because God made it that way. He is not hiding from us but wants us to see and KNOW Him. He made it possible to do so. For since the time of His creating the World (every material thing in our universe), His invisible attributes of His eternal (no beginning and no end) power and Divine (god) nature have been clearly and openly seen, being understood (perceived by conscience thought) by man so that we cannot stand before God and say we did not know. All the evidence of God's existence, power, and divinity stands before us in creation. We cannot claim ignorance. Think about the next time a storm blows through your town. God is clear.

On this, one more note. You are worthy of worship for these two attributes alone: YOUR ETERNAL POWER AND YOUR DIVINE NATURE. Even if you had only ever created us and done nothing more for us, you were worthy of our worship. Being the DIVINE BEING with NO BEGINNING AND NO END and with POWER EQUAL to that, you were/are worthy of worship. Yet, because you are that DIVINE Being, you did not stop there. There is so much more to you than just that.

The fact that you have made Yourself KNOWN to us and that you want to be KNOWN by us is absolutely staggering!

OH God, how do I do this? How do I proclaim someone so great? How do I do You justice? I think about You and I am blown away by Your greatness and feel so inadequate to proclaim You!