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truth of John 3: 16. It is not "all which may be known of God" that is revealable by
creation or manifested in man, but rather all that comes within the range concerned.
The "invisible things" mentioned here are (1:) His eternal power, and (2:) His divinity.
The word translated "eternal" is aidios, and occurs only once more in the N.T.--namely
in Jude 6, where it is found in the phrase "everlasting chains". While from a purely
etymological point of view, aidios might be regarded as linked up with the verb idein
"to see", and so be translated "His unseen power and divinity", the usage--which has
destroyed many an etymological theory--is against this derivation. The word is found in
Homer, Thucydides, Plato and other classical writers, and means "everlasting". The
Lexicons derive the word from aei, "always", as in Acts 7: 51 and II Cor. 6: 10.
Creation, therefore, makes manifest the "lasting, abiding power" of the Creator and
"His divinity".
The reader will observe that we do not follow the A.V. here in its use of the word
"Godhead". If different words are used by the inspired Scriptures, it will obviously not
be "rightly dividing the Word of truth" if we translate the various words concerned by the
one term "Godhead". We may not be able to fully to comprehend all that these fine
distinctions imply, but we can at least save ourselves from increased confusion by noting
the differences. The words concerned are as follows:
(1)
To Theion.--"The Godhead is (not) like unto gold" (Acts 17: 29).
(2)
Theiotes.--"His eternal power and Godhead" (Rom. 1: 20).
(3)
Theotes.--"In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2: 9).
To preserve the distinction here, to theion and theiotes should be rendered "divinity"
and "divine", while theotes should be rendered "deity". Nature can reveal the one, but
Christ alone can make manifest the other.
It will be seen, therefore, from this brief review, that Creation makes some of the
invisible attributes of God perceptible to man. The way in which these "invisible things"
are "clearly seen" is explained in the phrase which immediately follows--"Being
understood (noeo) by the things that are made". This "understanding" may be defined as
"the mental correlative of perception by the senses"--in other words, what "sight" is in
the world of sense, "understanding" is in the world of thought. This enables us to
"perceive", without being able to "grasp", the idea that, in the invisible world, complete
understanding takes the place of mere superficial vision. The proverb "Beauty is only
skin deep" might well be applied to the whole realm of human knowledge. It is alas, only
too possible to "see" without "understanding" (Matt. 13: 14).
In II Cor. 4: the Apostle makes the following statement on the relative worth of the
visible and invisible worlds:
"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen:
for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal"
(II Cor. 4: 18).