Isaac Newton Believed in God

Isaac Newton believed God is the Creator and author behind the book of nature. As stated by Newton in The Principia, aka Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.”

Throughout Newton’s life, he passionately pursued an understanding of the book of nature and also the “Book of Scripture” (Bible). Newton believed the Bible communicated the divine revelation from God to humans using language they could comprehend. The time he spent studying the Bible was compatible with the time he spent studying science, as illustrated by his writing of 1.3 million words on biblical subjects.[1]

Knowing the Creator was the author of the Book of Nature and the Book of Scripture, Newton was inspired by divine wisdom during his studies of science and life.

Newton’s life is best summed up in the epitaph on his tomb in Westminster, London. “Here is buried Isaac Newton, Knight, who by a strength of mind almost divine, and mathematical principles peculiarly his own, explored the course and figures of the planets, the paths of the comets, the ideas of the sea, the dissimilarities in rays of light, and, what no other scholar has previously imagined, the properties of the colors thus produced. Diligent, sagacious and faithful, in his expositions of nature, antiquity and the Holy Scriptures, he vindicated by his philosophy the majesty of God mighty and good and expressed the simplicity of the gospel in his manners…”[2]

Isaac Newton wrote, “When I look at the solar system. I see the Earth at the right distance from the Sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen by chance.”[3] In this example, the visible parts are the Earth, Sun, light, etc. The invisible parts or qualities are the heat—infrared light is unseen by the human eye—as well as the proper amounts of heat and light. For the Earth to receive these, it somehow needed to be placed the right distance from the Sun. Otherwise, the temperature on Earth would not be suitable for complex life to survive, and the light reaching Earth would not be proper for plants to grow by photosynthesis.

The questions are: “Who put the Earth at this proper distance?” “Did it happen by God or by chance?” The more we understand the solar system, the better we see the picture of needing a very precise location away from the Sun for the life on Earth to survive. Here, science provides a very helpful tool of mathematics and physics to screen out the false or incorrect theories and assumptions.

[1] https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-30/faith-behind-famous-isaac-newton.html

[2] https://themathematicaltourist.wordpress.com/2013/09/14/isaac-newtons-tomb/

[3] https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/isaac-newton-quotes, accessed Oct 2019

[4] The drawing, with Isaac Newton holding an apple and a prism, was designed by B. Tai (Copyright)

I will discuss more about the book of nature and the book of Scripture in my next blog!

Note: Excerpt from my book A PHYSICIST’S PERSPECTIVE ON GOD

Part 2: THE WISDOM COMMUNICATED THROUGH INVISIBLE QUALITIES

Ch. 4 : Unseen thing