How Unbelievers Know Anything

That may come across as an astonishing statement, when so many of our society’s sources of knowledge profess to be secular. Don’t unbelievers know things? How, then, can there be no knowledge apart from God?

Consider the following Bible verses. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul writes that Christ is the one “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). In Proverbs, it says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7), and “the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding…” (Proverbs 2:6). In 1 Samuel, Hannah prays, “the LORD is a God of knowledge” (1 Samuel 2:3), and in the book of Psalms, David tells God in poetic terms, “in your light do we see light” (Psalm 36:9).

What can we gather from all this? According to the Bible, God is the foundation of knowledge. If it’s in His “light” that “we see light,” then we cannot see light apart from His light. In other words, God’s knowledge is the source of our knowledge, without exception. This necessarily includes “secular” knowledge, not only knowledge of the things of God.

Another psalmist is even more direct when he calls God “He who teaches man knowledge” (Psalm 94:10). One implication of that description is that everything we humans know, we only know because God taught it to us.

So, again, what about unbelievers? How do they—since they’re separated from God—know anything, if there’s no knowledge apart from God?

Answer: They know things the same way believers know things—God grants them that knowledge. Unbelievers are separated from God, yes, but they’re not so far separated that they don’t receive all kinds of benefits from Him. As Paul said (speaking to unbelievers), “he is actually not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27). And as Jesus said, “he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). God calls us to love our enemies, and He leads by example. He loves His enemies, and gives them many good things. This is what theologians call common grace.

When it comes to knowledge, specifically, the Bible teaches that God bestows some knowledge upon all humans that:

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:19-20)

The knowledge God gives everyone is the knowledge that’s necessary to know about Him. In other words, merely by existing, a human knows God exists. The creation—including oneself—is such a clear sign of God, that knowing about Him is unavoidable. But, the passage also says, men “by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18). They convince themselves that they don’t know what they know. They do still know it, though.

But that’s not the only knowledge God gives. Recall that Psalm 94:10 says God is “He who teaches man knowledge.” So, any knowledge a person has, he only has because God taught it to him. That’s true of unbelievers as well as believers.

So yes, God is the foundation of knowledge even for unbelievers, who do in fact know things.

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Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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