Post #17 The Doctrine of God - P1 Reflections On God's Attribute Of Wisdom

 

Introduction: 

    In this current series of posts, we are exploring the existence, being, and attributes of God. 

    God's existence speaks to the fact of "that He is". His covenant name, "Yahweh", revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14, refers to His self-existence. This personal covenant name represents God's  unchanging character. Also too,  He operates independently of time while revealing Himself within it as "I AM who was, is, and am to come" (compare Revelation 1:7-8). 

    God's being tells us about "what He is" - without beginning, without ending, incomprehensible or incapable of being exhaustively comprehended. Though incomprehensibility places limits on how much we can comprehend, yet God is truly knowable because of His revelation in creation and the Scriptures. 

    The attributes, expressing God's being, tell us "how He is". God's being and attributes are one-and-the same substance, with the attributes not being parts, but rather whole expressions of the kind of God, God is. 

    As we move forward, we want to look today at God's attribute of wisdom. The Westminster Confession of Faith gives us one of the finest summaries of God's existence, being, and attributes in its article two, section 1. The following version of that article is found at the site https://westminsterstandards.org/westminster-confession-of-faith/. I'll reproduce below the attributes of God it lists with verse references, underlying our target attribute, God's wisdom,

"There is but one only, (Deut. 6:4, 1 Cor. 8:4–6) living, and true God, (1 Thess. 1:9, Jer. 10:10) who is infinite in being and perfection, (Job 11:7–9, Job 26:14) a most pure spirit, (John 4:24) invisible, (1 Tim. 1:17) without body, parts, (Deut. 4:15–16, John 4:24, Luke 24:39) or passions; (Acts 14:11,15) immutable, (James 1:17, Mal. 3:6) immense, (1 Kings 8:27, Jer. 23:23–24) eternal, (Ps. 90:2, 1 Tim. 1:17) incomprehensible, (Ps. 145:3) almighty, (Gen. 17:1, Rev. 4:8) most wise, (Rom. 16:27) most holy, (Isa. 6:3, Rev. 4:8) most free, (Ps. 115:3) most absolute; (Exod. 3:14) working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, (Eph. 1:11) for His own glory; (Prov. 16:4, Rom. 11:36) most loving, (1 John 4:8,16) gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth."

The only wise God

    Years ago I had preached a series through Paul's letter to the church at Rome. As I closed that series, I delved into God's attribute of wisdom. Paul wrote in Romans 16:27 "to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen." In that series, I was struck by how Paul began this massive exposition on the power of the Gospel by introducing it with God's grace (Romans 1:1-7) and concluding it with God's wisdom (Romans 16:27). 

    God's grace and wisdom function as bookends, holding together all of the wondrous truths of the Gospel in both its theological and practical considerations. 

    As I prepared that final message in the series, (the main source for this post), I asked God to minister to me His attribute of wisdom. I didn’t want to possess a theoretical knowledge, but to arrive at a deeper level of acquaintance with it. The difficulties of life test the metal of one’s faith. The entirety of human emotion is tasted. 

    As I reflect back on getting ready to preach on God's wisdom, at the time I experienced a challenging week. I recall vividly crossed a threshhold in my mind from seeing God’s wisdom as a reality I read about to that of a reality through which I needed to live. His wisdom was then, and still is to this day, my food and drink of the soul. Though I don’t comprehend many of the details in our current life, nonetheless "God only wise" does.  

Defining God's wisdom

    Theologian Wayne Grudem defines God's wisdom on page 231 of his "Systematic Theology", 2nd edition,

"God's wisdom means that God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals."

The late author A.W. Tozer comments on wisdom in general:

“Wisdom, among other things, is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve those ends by the most perfect means. It sees the end from the beginning, so there can be no need to guess or conjecture. Wisdom sees everything in focus, each in proper relation to all, and is thus able to work toward predestined goals with flawless precision.”

In a similar vein of thought, author J.I. Packer remarks about wisdom in his classic book: "Knowing God" - 

“Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.” 

    As aforementioned, God’s grace and wisdom function like bookends to hold together the details of the Gospel, life and eternity. Wisdom is one of the attributes or characteristics of God. Per the doctrine of Divine unity (also called by the older term, "Divine simplicity"), whenever we have one of God’s attributes, we have all of God, since He is all His attributes. 

    God's essential attribute of wisdom comforts me. His attributes are as light through a prism, transfiguring the white light of the sun into the manifold colors of the rainbow. By analogy, wisdom is that most noblest of virtues in creatures. If we consider the 11th century thinker Anselm's classic definition of God as, 

The greatest Being that can be conceived, compared to which none greater can be conceived" (i.e. the greatest conceivable being), 

then Divine wisdom is a necessary quality of God's being. 

God's wisdom and its communication to humans and angels

    

    We've talked before in prior posts of God's "communicable attributes", that is, those perfections which he shares with His creatures. Wisdom is among such communicable qualities of God. In God, wisdom isn't something that God possesses, rather, wisdom is what God is. No other rational creature (angel or human) can claim this unique point with respect to wisdom. 

    No creature "is" wisdom, however, all rational creatures "have" wisdom in varying measure. Angels are wiser than human beings, with angels and humans exhibiting varying levels of wisdom among themselves. God, on the other hand, has no variation of wisdom, since He "is" wisdom eternally, infinitely and immutably (see Malachi 3:6; James 1:17). 

Closing for now...

    In the next post, we'll continue by drawing forth implications and applications of God's attribute of wisdom to our lives. 

Post # 16 The Doctrine of God - God's Invisibility

 

Introduction:

    As we continue in our study of the doctrine of God, let's be reminded of where we have traveled in our journey through this important doctrine. 

1. First, we noted God's knowability, existence, and incomprehensibility. These three starting points all have in common God's act of Divine revelation - that is, making known what was previously unknown. God's self-disclosure of Himself in creation and the conscience is what we call "general revelation", meaning everyone born in this world has innate knowledge "about God". 

    In "special revelation", God makes known His will and identity through the Scriptures and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is special revelation that the Holy Spirit uses to generate salvation and bring about "knowledge of God". We explored these truths in posts #1-#3.

2. It was then in posts #4 to the present post that we turned our attention to God's being as understood through His attributes. 

    God's attributes are His being in action. By acting forth in His Divine essence through His perfections (attributes), God relates to all He has made. He wonderously shines forth in these attributes within Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

    God's being and attributes are of the same "stuff"or substance, with no division. God's attributes are not "bits and pieces of God", they are, by their expression, the very being of God Himself - acting, relating, and living. This union of God's being and attributes means God is not a mixed deity, comprised of parts of God here, parts of God there. Rather, He is "unmixed", He is a unity, a "simplex", to use a Latin term, or what theologians refer to as His "Divine simplicity". 

    God's unity or Divine simplicity reminds us that God's essence (being) is the same as His attributes, since each attribute is His essence in activity, expressing the fullness of that quality which He is by nature. Put plainly, Divine simplicity teaches that God's love, for example, is His essence in action as the loving God. God doesn't merely have love, He is love (by nature), as revealed in 1 John 4:16.

3. We then began to consider the two main categories assigned for the study of God's attributes. 

    The first of these are called "incommunicable attributes", meaning they are perfections which only God has and thus are not communicated or shared with His creatures. Such attributes as God's independence, unchangeableness, omnipresence, omniscience, infinity, eternality, and omnipotence are examples. 

    The second category of Divine attributes are what we call "communicable attributes". These are  those perfections which He shares with His creatures. For example, we have God's mercy, love, and goodness.  

Today's attribute - Divine invisibility. 

    As we turn our attention to God's attribute of Divine invisibility, I want to lay before the reader three ideas that we will use to navigate this important attribute of God. 

1. First, God cannot be comprehended by finite creatures in their minds (Deuteronomy 4:24; Isaiah 6:3; Luke 10:22; John 1:18; 1 Timothy 1:17). 

2. Secondly, God cannot be clearly seen by the senses, since He is spiritual by nature (John 4:24; 1 Timothy 6:16). 

3. Thirdly, God cannot be captured by finite human ideas (i.e. He is transcendent, which is why idolatry is forbidden), (Exodus 20:1-4; 33:20; Jeremiah 10:23-24; Romans 11:33-35; 1 Timothy 6:16). 

    In short, we have the ideas of incomprehensibility, unseeability, and incomparability whenever we talk of the invisibility of God. 

    To use three analogies. I cannot look directly at the sun, since its brightness exceeds my eyes' ability to process the light (incomprehensibility). 

    I also cannot look directly at the sun to see its surface, since again its brightness, its radiation, exceed my ability to observe it directly. 

    Then lastly, I cannot capture the sun's total appearance in my eyes, since I would literally be blinded. 

    Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology, 2nd edition, page 222, defines God's invisibility as, "God's invisibility means that God's total essence, all of His spiritual being, will never be able to be seen by us, yet God still shows himself partially to us in this age and more fully in the age to come."

    If we take Grudem's definition and combine it with our three main ideas associated with Divine invisibility (God as incomprehensible, God as not clearly seen by the senses, God as not captured by human ideas), we can see how God's revelation to us is required. 

Ways God manifested Himself in Scripture 

   In Scripture, we often see God revealing Himself in figurative language, what theologian call "analogical language". God is by nature invisible, and thus for us to know Him, He needs to reveal Himself in such a way for us to understand and relate. 

    I've commented on this before in other posts, but it is worth repeating. When God reveals Himself, He does so in several ways (Hebrews 1:1-2 summarizes this). 

    First, He will sometimes express Himself by way of figurative or analogical language, whether by analogy to human body parts (for instance, God having a hand or face), human emotions (for instance, God described as grieving or laughing), or human actions (the places where God is described as "changing His mind"). Such language enables us to interract with this invisible God. This "language of analogy" or figurative language makes how we talk of God no less true, since in figurative language God is emphasizing relationship. 

    Then the second way God makes Himself known is using direct statements about Himself that convey one meaning that He and us would understand in the same sense. For example, when God is revealed as "infinite in understanding" (Psalm 145), we grasp the word "infinite" as meaning God's knowledge is without limits, the same meaning as He intended. Whenever the meaning is the same between the speaker and the hearer, we call this "univocal language", that is, everyone is understanding the same thing. 

    Other methods God has used in redemptive history to make Himself known are what we call "theophanies" or "Christophanies", that is, the various appearances of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son, throughout the Old Testament. Christophanies includes His self-revelation as the Pillar of Fire, "The Word", or in those cases where He was disguised, such as the "Rock that followed the Jews". Writer Sinclair Ferguson has noted that when the Son appeared in Christophany, it was a sort of "dress rehearsal" for what would be His permanent self revelation in the incarnation.

    This segues to one more way the invisible God makes Himself known, and perhaps the most vital, and that of course is in the revelation of the Son by incarnation in the New Testament. Unlike the other methods, incarnation is now a permanent state of the Second Person of the Trinity as truly God and truly man (John 1:14). The incarnation of the Son of God includes His earthly ministry, death, resurrection, ascension, and  return. Remember, by nature, God is incomprehensible, unseeable, and not captured by human ideas. Unless He makes Himself known to us, we otherwise would not know Him or anything for that matter.

God's Divine invisiblity reminds us that God is God and everything else is created

    Whenever I consider God's Divine invisibility, I'm reminded of the theologian Cornelius Van Til's term "Creator/creature distinction". VanTil was a brilliant 20th century theologian who developed an entire school of Christian apologetics and aided greatly in communicating the truths of God's Word to an increasing secularized Western culture. In a letter he wrote to another theologian, he noted his notion of the importance of the "Creator/creation distinction",

"Starting with the Creator-creature distinction as basic to one’s thought one need not and in fact cannot after that discuss such concepts as time and eternity by themselves. By themselves they are abstractions. True, we can speak of them by themselves as we can speak of the justice of God by itself. But when we speak of the justice of God by itself, we always insist that it is the justice of God, that it is an attribute of God. The justice of God is therefore interwoven with the other attributes of God and with the being of God. So also with eternity. It is the eternity of God. And God is man’s creator. And time is characteristic of the created world."

God's Divine invisibility grounds true worship and guards against idolatry

    If we take our three ideas mentioned earlier, we can see why consideration of God's invisibility and maintaining the "Creator/creation" enables us to avoid idolatry and ground true worship. Exodus 20:1-4 gives us an Old Testament example,

"Then God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."

    Even when God reveals Himself through His ultimate mode of revelation, the incarnation of the Son of God, we find Divine invisibility guarding us from idolatry and grounding true worship (John 4:24). In the New Testament, Jesus says for instance in John 5:37-39,

"And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. 38 You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me."

    Jesus alone is the Mediator between an unseeable Father and finite us. As the Son of God, He shares in the Divine invisible nature as truly God. As a consequence of His incarnation, He shares in our finite, visible nature (John 1:14; Hebrews 1:1-3). This is one reason why through all eternity, Christians will truly see God, but only as He is mediated through the Son (John 14:8; 1 Timothy 2:5; Revelation 21:23). 

    God's Divine invisibility ever places God as our Creator, and we as His creatures. He is incomprehensible, incapable of perception by our senses, and incapable of being captured totally by our intellects. We are ever in a state of dependence, rather than independence. 

    We require God to reveal Himself to us audibly through the Scriptures, by His Spirit, and visually through the incarnate Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is symbolized by the Lord's Supper and emblemized by believer's baptism. God's Divine invisibility drives the Christian to true worship of Him, while avoiding the idolatry that attempts to domesticate God to a deity of our own making. 

Post # 15 The Doctrine of God - God's Attribute of Truthfulness

Reviewing how our study of attributes so far is giving us a a clearer picture of God as He is.

   Before we get into our investigation of God's truthfulness, let's review how the last several posts on God's incommunicable attributes give us a coherent picture of the God of the Bible. 

1. What is meant by "attributes", and their categories.

    We began by first distinguishing between God's "incommunicable" and "communicable" attributes, noting that the former speaks of qualities God shares with His creatures, whereas the latter category are those that are unique to Himself. 

    As for the term "attribute" itself, we discovered that any talk of God's essence in action or relationship. We may tend to view God's attributes as adjectives that describe the noun "God", almost as if the attributes are pieces that plug into God's nature. 

    However, the Bible does not present God in this way. Instead, think of the attributes as "adverbs" (those "ly" words that describe the action of a verb). Think of them describing God in constant motion. He is a Living, Personal, Eternal, Infinite, Beginningless, and Endless reality. God is His attributes. He lives and acts forth lovingly ("love" used as an adverb to describe how God lives and how He acts) because God is love (1 John 4:8). This quality about God's being is what theologians call "Divine simplicity". The word "simplicity" derives from the Latin simplex, signifying that God is unmixed, not put together, not having parts, and that all that God is (by nature) and all that God does (His attributes) are one-and-the-same. 

    Any of God's attributes delivers to us the totality of God, as in for example God's unchangeability gives to us God in all of His unchangeability (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 1:8-10; Hebrews 13:8). 

    Theologian J.P. Boice observes the following about the idea of God's attributes in his "Abstract of Systematic Theology", page 65,

"They are not separate nor separable from his essence or nature, and yet are not that essence, but simply have the ground or cause of their existence in it, and are at the same time the peculiarities which constitute the mode and character of his being."

    It is important to remember that when contemplating God's being and attributes, we can never fully comprehend Him in His being (what is called "God's incomprehensibility"), yet we can truly know Him (due to the revelation of Himself to us in creation, 

2. Reviewing God's unchangeableness, independence, omnipresence, spirituality, eternality.

    We then proceeded to talk of God's unchangeability or "immutability", noting that the God of the Bible is unchanging in His nature and His attributes (see Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 1:8-10). We then considered God's independence, self-sufficiency, or what is called by older theologians "Divine aseity", noting that God's "Godness" is in view. God is not dependent on anything else outside Himself and that He alone is self-sufficient. Each of these attributes tell us further truth about God's very being. He as God, in the totality of His essence, is unchanging, is "a se" (Latin for "from oneself"), i.e. God is independent in-and-of-Himself. 

    It is then we noted that because God is unchanging and independent, He is omnipresent. God as God acts omnipresently. God's omnipresence means that all of God is present at every point in creation and beyond it, all the while being able to act differently or manifest different perfections that befit the situation experienced in the lives of His creatures. 

    We then spent some time discussing God's spiritual nature or spirituality, noting that because He is spiritual, and eternally so, He is able to be all the other perfections or attributes we've discussed already. As a final note of review, we looked at that wonderful perfection of God's eternality. God's Divine eternity speaks of His infinite being with respect to time, as well as how he in His Divine life experiences no succession or interruption of moments. All in all, each of these Divine perfections give us views of His total being in action and relating to His creation. 

God's Divine truthfulness, defining terms and key Biblical references.

    We now come to that perfection of God that is known as "Divine truthfulness". Theologian Sam Storms passionately notes the following about God's truthfulness,

"Let’s be clear right from the start. God isn’t whatever you want him to be. He is who he is whether you like it or not. God is not like silly putty in the hands of those who wish to twist and shape him into something more palatable to their senses. He has always been, is now, and will forever be the same. His character and revealed will do not change when culture does or when he falls out of favor with human opinion."

    Another theologian, Wayne Grudem, lists this perfection of God as a "communicable attribute", since we as creatures share in truthfulness by our need for truth and by our moral nature knowing about truth. God is truthful by nature. Jeremiah 10:10 reminds us,

"But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation."

    In the realm of human salvation, the truthfulness of God is central, as for instance 1 John 5:20 states,

"And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life" (see also John 14:6; 17:3). 

    The great nineteenth century theologian Charles Hodge notes the following about God's attribute of truthfulness in terms of its implications. He writes in Volume One of His Systematic Theology, page 437, "The true, therefore, is, 

1. That which is real as opposed to that which is fictitious or imaginary.

2. The true is that which completely comes up to its idea, or to what it purports to be. A true man is a man in whom the idea of manhood is fully realized. The true God is He in whom is found all that Godhead imports.

3. The true is that in which the reality exactly corresponds to the manifestation. God is true, because He really is what He declares himself to be.

4. The true is that which can be depended upon, which does not fail, or change, or disappoint. In this sense also God is true as He is immutable and faithful. His promise cannot fail; his word never disappoints. His word abideth forever."

How God's truthfulness grounds creation, salvation, and Scripture.

    The "truth" of God grounds all of creation. In our conception of what truth actual means, we often assign the definition of "that which corresponds to reality" or "that which makes coherent sense within itself without contradiction". One of the most fundamental concepts in all of logic is the "Law of non-contradiction", which states that something cannot be one way, then its opposite, in the same way and the same sense". 

    Hence, to speak of a "married bachelor" is a logical contradiction, and thus cannot be true, since it could never correspond to reality anywhere, and as a concept, is incoherent. Whenever you think about it, the "truthfulness about truth" gives us one way of arguing not only for God's existence, but also gives us insight into the kind of God He is by nature. To mention what I said earlier of God's attributes functioning as adverbs (those "ly" words which describe the actions of verbs), God acts truthfully due to Him being truthful.  

    When we consider Biblical salvation, God as the true God is central. In a more specific sense, God revealed through the Person of the Son is how we see God as central to salvation, since He is the God of truth. For example, Psalm 31:15 states, "Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have ransomed me, O Lord, God of truth."  Some readers may recognize the first clause in this verse, since it is exactly what Jesus Himself said and quoted on the cross in Luke 23:46, "And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last." This is so fitting of course, since the One who uttered those words came as the incarnation of truth itself, claiming Himself to be "the truth" (John 14:6), as well as standing before Pilate in silence as "The Truth", with Pilate blindly saying "what is truth?" (John 18:38).

    If we turn our attention to the doctrine of Scripture itself, the inerrancy (The Bible's truthfulness) and infallibility (The Bible's incapability of ever being wrong) rests in Jesus' teaching on the Scriptures, fulfilled prophecy, and God's truthfulness. Passages such as Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:25; Malachi 3:6; Titus 1:2; and Hebrews 6:18 assert the unchanging truthfulness of God. James 1:17-21 puts side by side the doctrines of God's revelation of Himself, the Word of God, and salvation as rooted in His unchanging truthfulness. 

Post # 14 The Doctrine of God - P2 God's Attribute of Spirituality, And Its Applications

Introduction:

    In our last post, we spent time defining the terms "spirit" and "spirituality". Such conceptual ground clearing was deemed important due to the prevailing climate of atheistic materialism on the one hand and Eastern spirituality on the other hand. Christian people are more affected by these two worldviews than realized. By getting our bearings on what these terms mean in their linguistic history and general use in the Bible, we can now dive into God's spirituality. As I noted in the last post, theologian Wayne Grudem defined God's spirituality as,

"God's spirituality means that God exists as a being that is not made of any matter, has no parts or dimensions, is unable to be perceived by our bodily senses, and is more excellent than any other kind of existence."

    Theologian and speaker Steven J. Lawson, in his study on the attributes of God, has noted three terms that are helpful in getting our minds and hearts to track with this attribute. Lawson's terminology below meshes well with what we just observed in Grudem’s quote above.

1. Immaterial, without a physical or material nature. 

2. Infinite, without limitations in regards to any attribute, His being, and thus His character.

3. Invisible or not having ever been directly viewed or comprehended by any creature.

    As a final review note, we offered the following definition of "spirit" - that animating, immaterial, vital energy of a being that moves, causes, produces, and affects whatever it touches, influences, or acts. Readers may review the commentary on this definition in the last post here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-13-doctrine-of-god-p1-gods.html

How the Living God in His spirituality is different from angels and humans.

    We can note other scriptures which remind us that God "does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by men's hands, as though He needed anything" (Acts 17:24-25). One phrase we find throughout the Bible is where God is revealed as "the Living God". This phrase contrasts God with the mute idols, which in Psalm 115:3-8 have no spirit in them, nor are even spiritual in nature, and thus cannot see, hear, talk, or do anything. 

     Some 27 times this phrase "the living God is found" to indicate the spirituality of God who, by nature, is that eternal animating, immaterial, vital energy of His own being that moves, causes, produces, and affects whatever He touches, influences, or acts.  

    As He is as an infinite spirit (John 4:24; Hebrews 12:9), God is not composed of parts like animals, angels, or humans. 

    Angels for instance, though being spirit by nature, nonetheless still have other qualities that depend on their spiritual nature to move, learn, and exercise power. The angels are created spirit beings (Job 38; Psalm 104). God on the other hand is spirit, and thus He depends on nothing that causes Him to be one way and then another or having to move from one place and then to another (Isaiah 46:9-10). 

    As the eternal spirit being, God is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient (Psalm 139:1-7). Human beings are at least two-part beings (having physical bodies, for instance Genesis 2:7 and a soul or seat of personality that is immaterial, also Genesis 2:7). Other Scriptures clarify that when viewing human beings in light of their contact with God or Scripture, there appears then a third aspect of mankind in what is called his or her human spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12). 

     Human beings as composite physical/non-physical creatures are limited to time and space. The spirit of a person is confined to their body until death (Luke 16; 2 Corinthians 5:5-6). God on the otherhand is not (remember, He is a pure, eternal spirit, with no physical body). 

    One author has noted that the spirit in a person is their center of "God-awareness". This point makes sense, for in the spirit of a person we find the imprint of God's very image, as well as the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Colossians 3).

How Scripture uses figurative language to help us connect to God's spirituality. 

    We have discussed before in this blog series of how God reveals Himself two ways in the Bible http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-10-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html. He speaks to us in direct language or "univocal language", meaning that there is a one-to-one correspondance to something like "God is omnipotent" and our understanding that God means He is all powerful. Then there is a second sense Scripture speaks about God, namely analogical language in which God accomodates Himself in His revelation to us through human language in figures of speech. 

    This second means of God's self-disclosure or revelation to us is important to note, since often we find human body parts (anthropomorphisms) and human emotions (anthrpopathisms) often describe God. By keeping in mind that these are figures of speech, and not literal attributes of God, we can avoid the error of thinking God is physical or somehow a bigger version of ourselves. More importantly, such figures of speech aid us in relating to God as He is as the eternal, spiritual being revealed in the Bible. 

    Nineteenth century Baptist theologian J.P. Boice on page 63 of his "Abstract of Theology" summarized how God is described by these various figures of speech in the analogical language of the Bible. Interested readers may view these references and the way they reveal God in the endnote following this post. 1

How God's spirituality relates to the Person of the Holy Spirit.

    As we wrap this post, I would be remiss if I did not mention how this attribute of Divine spirituality relates to the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 9:14 reminds us, 

"how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"

    In all we have explored in this post, we can say that the Divine nature of God as being spiritual, including those eternal attributes that are the actions of His spiritual, eternal essence, there is no doubt that the Holy Spirit as a member of the Trinity truly and entirely is eternally spiritual by nature as God. 

    We know that the Holy Spirit is by nature Yahweh or Jehovah God (Acts 5:4-5; 2 Corinthians 3:16-17). We know Scriptures equate the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son (Genesis 1:2; John 14:16-17; 15:26), being of the same essence or "kind" as the Son, who in turn is of the same essence or kind as the Father, with all three being One God in Trinity. 

Applying God's spirituality.

    As Steve Lawson noted in a lecture on this attribute, it is comforting to know that God is as much here as He is with loved ones in a hospital room or who are alone without nearby family. Jeremiah 23:23-24 reminds us,  “Am I a God who is near,” declares the Lord, “And not a God far off? 24 “Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord. 

    Second, we can note that as spiritual by nature, God in the Person of the Holy Spirit indwells the Christian, and all true believers. He is able to be truly and entirely present in my life and all Christians without diminishment. This comforts me because as a Christian, I never have to fear of being ultimately alone. 

    Lastly, the third Person of the Trinity, having that same eternal spiritual nature of God as the Father and Son, pursues after those sinners whom the Father has pledged to His Son. This means no sinner is too far off from the grace and influence of God, since His spirituality is not limited by any barrier. 

Endnote

1. J.P. Boice's listing of figure of speech used in the Bible to describe God,

1. Those which speak of him as having location: Gen. 4:16; Ex. 19:17-20; 20:21; 33:14, 15.

2. As having motion: Gen. 17:22; 18:33; Ex. 19:20; Num. 12:5; 23:4; Deut. 33:2; Judg. 5:4; 1 Sam. 4:7; Ps. 47:5; 68:7, 8; Ezek. 11:23; Micah 1:3; Hab. 3:3; Zech. 2:13.

3. As using vehicles: 2 Sam. 22:11; Ps. 18:10; 104:3; Hab. 3:8, 15; Zech. 9:14.

4. He is said to dwell on the earth: Ex. 25:8; 29:43, 44; 1 Kings 6:13; 8:12, 13; 2 Chron. 6:1, 2; Ps. 132:14; Mic. 1:2, 3; Hab. 2:20.

5. He dwells with man: Ex. 29:45; Lev. 26:11, 12; 2 Chron. 6:18; Zech. 2:10; Rev. 21:3.

6. He dwells in men: 1 Cor. 3:16, 17; 6:19.

7. He has face: Gen. 32:30; Ex. 33:11, 20; Deut. 5:4; 34:10; Rev. 20:11; eyes: 2 Chron. 16:9; Prov. 22:12; nostrils: 2 Sam. 22:9, 16; Ps. 18:15; mouth: Num. 12:8; Ps. 18:8; lips and tongue: Isa. 30:27; breath: Isa. 30:28; shoulders: Deut. 33:12; hand and arms: Ex. 33: 22, 23; Ps. 21:8; 74:11; 89:13; 118:16; Isa. 52:10; Hab. 3:4; fingers: Ps. 8:3; back: Ex. 33:23; feet: Ps. 18:9; voice: Ex. 19:19; 20:22; Lev. 1:1; Num. 7:89; 12:4; 22:9; Deut. 4:12, 36; 1 Kings 19:12, 13; Ps. 29:3-9; 68:33; Jer. 25:30, 31; Ezek. 43:6.

8. His voice is spoken of as dreaded: Ex. 20:19; Deut. 4:33; 5:24-26; Joel 2:11; 3:16; Amos 1:2; Heb. 12:19, 26.

9. He is said to exercise laughter: Ps. 2:4.

10. He appears to men: Gen. 35:9; 48:3; Ex. 3:2-6; 19:9; 1 Kings 9:2; Job 42:5, 6; Amos 9:1.

11. His appearance is described: Ex. 24:10; Deut. 31:15; Isa. 6:1; Ezek. 8:1, 2, 4; 43:2; Dan. 7:9, 10; Rev. 4:5.

12. He is in human form: Gen. 18:1; Ezek. 1:26, 27; Rev. 4:2, 3.

Post # 13 The Doctrine of God - P1 God's Attribute of Spirituality - Getting A Grasp On What We Mean By "Spirit" and "Spiritual"

Introduction:

    In this series of posts we are aiming to do a survey of the Doctrine of God, otherwise known as "Theology Proper". In today's post we will explore God's attribute of "spirituality". Theologian Wayne Grudem makes the following observation about this attribute of "spirituality",

“Thus we should not think of God as having size or dimensions, even infinite ones. We should not think of God's existence as spirit as meaning that God is infinitely large, for example, for it is not part of God but all of God that is in every point of space (see Ps. 139:7-10). Nor should we think that God's existence as spirit means that God is infinitely small, for no place in the universe can surround him or contain him (1 Kings 8:27). Thus God's being cannot be rightly thought of in terms of space, however we understand his existence as ‘spirit’”. (Systematic Theology, 2nd edition, page 221).

    Grudem then offers the following definition of God's Divine spirituality, 

"God's spirituality means that God exists as a being that is not made of any matter, has no parts or dimensions, is unable to be perceived by our bodily senses, and is more excellent than any other kind of existence."

    Theologian and speaker Steven J. Lawson, in his study on the attributes of God, has noted three terms that are helpful in getting our minds and hearts to track with this attribute. Lawson's terminology below meshes well with what we just observed in Grudem’s quote above.

1. Immaterial, without a physical or material nature. 

2. Infinite, without limitations in regards to any attribute, His being, and thus His character.

3. Invisible or not having ever been directly viewed or comprehended by any creature.

Clarifying what we mean by "spirit", and how we apply it to God's spirituality

    As we reflect on the above thoughts of God's spirituality, I think it important to probe into what we mean by "spirit", and what it entails in reference to God's spirituality, due to two trends in our wider Western world. 

    First, due to the prevailing climate of belief that physics, chemistry, and energy are all that underlies our universe (often called "materialism"or "naturalism"), some reflection on what the term "spirit" refers to requires some unpacking before exploring what Scripture says about God's attribute of "spirituality". 

    The second trend in our secular culture has increasingly become fixated on "being spiritual" in the sense of Eastern mysticism or some sort of impersonal pantheism or the push towards somehow divinizing nature. Whenever we read the Bible's revelation of God's spirituality, it causes us to think on what is meant by the term "spirit" itself.  

    I offer this definition of spirit - that animating, immaterial, vital energy of a being that moves, causes, produces, and affects whatever it touches, influences, or acts. Let me briefly unpack this definition.

1. When I say "animating", I mean that which makes alive or causes to become active. In the Latin, the term "anima" refers to the principle of life or spirit (The New Latin English Dictionary). 

2. The next term "immaterial" indicates that spirit is non-physical in nature. 

3. The third idea, "vital energy", refers to movement, force, that issues forth. The English word "vital"derives from the Latin "vis" meaning "strength, force, influence". As for our English word "energy", it derives from the Greek noun "energeia" that speaks of "work from within". I'll comment more later on the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin words we find that translate our English word "spirit".

4. The fourth term in our definition talks of "being", whether we are speaking of animals, humans, angels, or God. As I'll explain below, God as "Spirit" differs from His creatures, even though He shares the qualities of spirit we are talking about in our definition. 

5. One final observation about our definition as to how it gives us the consequences or visible affects brought forth by anything with a spirit, namely "that moves, causes, produces, and affects whatever it touches, influences, or acts."

    In thinking of our proposed definition above, we will discover some key Scripture passages where we find references to animals and humans having spirits, angels being created spirits, and God as spiritual or He by nature being an eternal spirit. As a quick comment on the term "spiritual", in the Biblical way of thinking, especially in the New Testament, the Greek underlying term translated "spiritual" ("pneumatikos, 1 Corinthians 15:46-47 for example) speaks of the source from which the life of a being originates - namely a spirit connected to a personality. "Spirituality" in the Old and New Testament is never thought of as an impersonal force or as collapsed into a state of mind as taught by practitioners of Eastern meditation. 

Hebrew, Greek, and Latin terms which translate our English word "spirit".

    The Hebrew word for “spirit” in the Old Testament (“ruach”) and the Greek word for “spirit” in the New Testament (“pneuma”) both refer to “wind, breath”. If you look at that Greek word “pneuma”, you may recognize such English words as “pneumatic” or “pneumonia”. Those English words and their Greek derivative all have to do with movement or effects caused by air or breath. In the Latin, the terms "anima" and “spiritus” are used, with the latter term used to rendering the English word “spirit”.    Much like the Hebrew “ruach” and Greek “pneuma”, the Latin terms convey this idea of "wind", "air" or "breath". 

    Jesus for instance describes the spirituality of the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, in John 3:8, 

"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

How God's spirituality is a communicable or "shared" attribute.

      In working through clarifying the meaning of the terms "spirit"and "spirituality", we can enter into discussion of how spirituality is communicated by God to His creatures. We have three classes of creatures that are described as having a “spirit”. Animals have this animating, immaterial energy given to them by God that enables them to live and move (Genesis 7:22). It is interesting to note that a living or moving thing in the Latin is “anima”, thus why we call any non-human creature an “animal”. 

     Human beings have a “spirit” as well. It is the original base of operations in man that is spiritual dead in unbelievers and becomes “reanimated” and indwelled by the Holy Spirit in salvation (1 Cor 6:19-20; Hebrews 4:12). Then there are angels that don’t merely have a spirit but are spirits in their created sense (see Psalms 104; Hebrews 1:13).

     But then when we come to God, we find out that He is a Spirit in His own unique right. We classify the spirituality of God as a “communicable attribute”, meaning He shares some qualities of that attribute with His creatures. 

     In as much as we can apply the above definition I gave to God, we of course realize He is unique from angels, humans, and animals. God is eternal, infinite, and without beginning Psalm 90:1-3; 102:25-27; 145; Romans 11:33-36). As J.P. Boice in his "Abstract of Theology", page 62 notes,

"But when we ascribe spirituality to God, we do not intend to simply assert that He possess a spiritual nature, but that His nature is exclusively spiritual. By this we mean that He has no material organization, that He has neither body nor members (parts) of the body such as we have, neither shape or form, neither passions (the trait that causes change in a being when acted upon by something outside of itself), nor limitations, but only a spiritual nature." 

More next time.

    

Post # 12 The Doctrine of God - God's Attribute of Divine Omniscience (including a brief evaluation of so-called "middle knowledge")

 

Isaiah 41:21-23 “Present your case,” the Lord says. “Bring forward your strong arguments,” The King of Jacob says. 22 Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place; As for the former events, declare what they were, That we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what is coming;

23 Declare the things that are going to come afterward, That we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together. 24 Behold, you are of no account, And your work amounts to nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination."

Introduction:

     In this series on "the Doctrine of God", we've observed God's existence, knowability, and attributes such as His independence, unchangeableness, and eternity. In today's post we continue by taking a look at His omniscience. Theologian Wayne Grudem offers this definition of God's omniscience,

"God fully knows himself and all things actual and possible in one simple and eternal act". (page 225, 2nd edition, Systematic Theology). 

Main Bible passages for Divine omniscience.

    God's Divine omniscience refers to His ability to know any and all true facts about everything. This is staggering to think about. The above opening text from Isaiah 41 has God issuing a challenge to "wanna-be" gods or idols that, in reality, are not deities at all. God alone is omniscient. The 19th century theologians Charles Hodge writes in Volume 1 of his "Systematic Theology":  

"We pray to a God who, we believe, knows our state and wants, who hears what we say, and who is able to meet our necessities".

Hodge lists the following scriptures which elevate to our attention God's omniscience: Psalm 104:9; 139:1,2,12; 147:5; Proverbs. 15:3,11; Ezekiel 11:5; Matthew 10:30; Acts 15:8; Hebrews 4:13. This is the God of sacred scripture! Psalm 147:5 states most plainly: 

"Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite."

      So how much does God know? How is it that God knows what He knows? We can attempt to approach an answer by considering typical ways that theologians describe Divine omniscience as revealed in the Bible.

1. God's self-knowledge.

     Jesus makes the following statement in Matthew 11:27 - 

"All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."

     Let Jesus' words sink in for just a moment. God, by nature and definition, is infinite (Psalm 90:1-2). The Person of the Father, by nature, is God. We understand from Moses in Deuteronomy 32:8 that the Father knows all things, including the future of the nations. The Son comprehends the Father, which tells us that the Son is as much God (by nature) as the Father is God. 

    Not only do we see "God's self-knowledge" expressed in the Son's comprehension of the Father and the Father's comprehension of the Son, but we also note this same ability ascribed to the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 2:10-11; Romans 8:26-27; Romans 11:34-35). These considerations remind us that each Person of the Trinity, sharing equally in the Divine essence, are each truly God, wholly and entirely. This Trinitarian knowledge shared and experienced by the persons of the Godhead constitutes what we are discussing here - God's self knowledge. 

As Wayne Grudem notes,

"Of course, only he who is infinite can fully know himself in detail." (page 225, Systematic Theology, 2nd edition).  

    No other creature - angel or man - can comprehend all that God is (see Isaiah 6:2-3; 1 Timothy 6:16). This self-knowledge of God is expressed by the Father and the Son in their full comprehension of one another. 

2. God's knowledge of all things that "could be", or "natural knowledge".

       God's comprehension of Himself is a knowledge that takes into view "what He is" and "how He is" as God. In our definition of omniscience offered earlier, God's knowledge of, "any and all true facts about everything", begins with Himself. However, what about all those things other than Himself? How much does God know about those things which He could make or did make. In the mind of God, all things are known directly and all-at -once. 

    Furthermore, God's knowledge includes all things that could possibly be. Put another way, in God's mind, He knew all possible versions of history that "could-had-been" had He decided to bring anyone of them into reality. 

      This aspect of God's knowledge, whereby He knows all things that "could-be", is what we call His "natural knowledge". The reason for this is that all possible outcomes of every event, time and person, are as much known by Him as those same things that did come about in this version of time known as creation. This would apply to the phenomena of Bible prophecy, predicted and fulfilled.1

3. God's knowledge of "all-things-that-are" or actual knowledge from His decree.

     God's omniscience includes knowledge of Himself and all those things that "could-had-been". But now, what can we note of God's knowledge of our actual world? Sometimes theologians and philosophers define God's omniscience as His knowledge of all true statements about reality (i.e. "propositions"). Hence, when I say "it is raining outside", whether I say that statement in English, Spanish, or any other language, the information content still holds regardless.2

    You see, all possibilities were present in God's Divine mind. His Divine decree, rooted in His will and sheer pleasure of being God, decreed out of those innumerable possibilities that one version of history which He would bring about in His creation of time and space (see Romans 11:36; Ephesians 1:11). We refer to God's omniscience of our actual world as His, "actual" knowledge, His "free-knowledge", or most commonly referred to as "the knowledge from His decree". Theologian William G.T. Shedd summarizes God's actual knowledge:

"The divine decree is formed in eternity, but executed in time. There are sequences in the execution, but not in the formation of God’s eternal purpose."

     Shedd gives an example of how God's decree to bring about all He knew "could-be" to "what came to be" by Christ Himself:

"There were thirty-three years between the actual incarnation and the actual crucifixion, but not between the decree that the Logos should be incarnate and the decree that he should be crucified. In the divine decree, Christ was simultaneously (in God's mind, which He, the Father, and Spirit have as One God in being) eternally incarnate and crucified: “The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 14:8). Hence divine decrees, in reference to God, are one single act only." 

       What always blows my mind is to realize that in one act, God not only knew what "may-possibly-be" from the myriad versions of the history of the universe in His natural knowledge, He also knew what "could be, and thus did become" by His decretive choice. 

    In sum, God does not decree our world because He looked ahead to a so-called "tunnel of time" independent of Himself, but instead, knows all about our world by what He decreed from the vastness of His omniscience. You and I require many successive thoughts in our planning. Truly, God's omniscience is staggering. He thinks it all in "one shot". Let me briefly mention one more category sometimes mentioned by theologians when it comes to answering the question: "how much does God know?"

4. Ought we include a category of God's knowledge of "what we would do if in different circumstances" or "middle knowledge"?

       If we consider God's "natural knowledge" of all things that "could-be" as a first logical moment in God's mind, then His decree is the source of the second logical moment to bring about our version of history or, "all things that are". But now is there some type of "logical moment" that stands between God's knowledge of possibilities and the decree to bring about our actual history? Some Christian thinkers are convinced that the standard, theological account I outlined above doesn't go far enough. 

     This so-called "middle knowledge view" attempts to offer scriptures for its support (1 Samuel 13:13-14; Jeremiah 38:17-18; Matthew 11:21-23; 1 Corinthians 2:8, just to list several). According to 16th century thinker Luis De Molina (see endnote #3 below), as God was decreeing to create, He included what his creatures "would do", and, by considering the purpose He so designed to take place, God brought about our version of history.3 Such a view is often called "Molinism" in memory of the thinker who championed it.

       

        For five or so years I toyed around with this idea of middle knowledge or Molinism. It had at one time appealed to me, and on the surface seemed to make sense. However, there are problems. First, if God would use such "middle knowledge", then that would mean He is using something outside of Himself (free-will choices of what creatures would do in certain scenarios) to influence or "inform" what He decree to bring into existence. This would conflict with what we read of in Romans 11:35 "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?" 

    Secondly, middle knowledge suffers from what is known as "the grounding objection". Essentially, if middle knowledge is true, where does God's get this middle knowledge? It cannot be from the free-will agents, since they would not had existed. At the same time, such middle knowledge can't be grounded in God either, since proponents advocate God taking into consideration what they would do in certain situations. Its as if such middle knowledge is pulled out of "somewhere", with that "somewhere" being akin to pulling a rabbit out of a hat, except there is no rabbit, nor hat. 

    Then finally, what about all the passages that middle-knowledge advocates set forth (as seen above)? If you will recall what I had said earlier about God's natural knowledge of all possibilities or "what could be", one could just as easily explain the passages as God knowing the possible outcome. Further, since what actually occurred (in this instance the crucifixion of our Lord for example), demonstrates the reality of God's decretive knowledge, thus eliminating the need for an extra category such as "middle knowledge". 

Closing thoughts

      In today's post we considered the question: how much does God know? We explored the Biblical teaching on the subject of Divine omniscience. We defined omniscience as, "knowing any and all true facts about everything" or Wayne Grudem's definition, "God fully knows himself and all things actual and possible in one simple and eternal act". We also consider how God knows Himself, has knowledge of all possibilities or natural knowledge, and knows exhaustive details of this universe and all that is in it due to His Divine decree. We briefly considered whether or not God included people's decisions in His plans, or what theologians call, "middle-knowledge", concluding that Biblically, theologically, and philosophically, the idea of middle knowledge is untenable (further details are in the endnotes below).  

     To borrow and paraphrase an illustration from the 5th century Christian thinker, Augustine, I feel like  a little boy who thinks He has grasped the ocean by dipping a cup into it and exclaiming to his parents:

"I've scooped up the ocean". 

    This little post has submerged itself into the vastness of God's omniscience. This is but a small cup, which I hope, causes us to be in awe of our amazing God! More next time!

Endnotes:

1. We know God knows what is "possible-to-know" by the sheer amount of predictive prophecy in the Bible. According to J. Barton Payne's, "Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy - The complete guide to scriptural predictions and their fulfillment", we find a total of 395 predicted fulfilled prophecies about 12 different nations and various events and 127 fulfilled prophecies centering about the life of Christ. 

    H.A. Ironside aptly refers to predictive prophecy as a form of, "prehistory", meaning that, in the mind of God, the predicted event is already a "done-deal". For God to know with certainty the potential outcomes of future events gives us but the tip of the iceberg to what all lies in His natural knowledge of "things-that-could-be". 

2. Suppose we tried to "trick God" and somehow were to last-minute cause it not to rain, rather than rain. For God, He knows for certain the weather conditions for tomorrow, next week, and ten years from now, including all possible scenarios where it rains or doesn't rain. Depsite our attempts to trick God, we would find that His knowledge of the future is still infallible, since He knew of the situation where it would not rain just as well as the scenario in which it would.  

3. In the 16th century, a brilliant man by the name of Luis de Molina proposed that there is a "middle logical moment" or type of knowledge in God's mind between His "natural" and "actual knowledge". According to Molina, whenever God chose to create the world, He took seriously the free-will decisions of His creatures. He foresaw what they "would do" if in a potential set of circumstances. According to this view, God used His "middle knowledge" of what free-will creatures would do in certain circumstances to "whittle down" all the possibilities of "what could be" from His natural knowledge to a subset of feasible alternatives. Then, by including the decisions of His creatures, God then brought into existence our actual world. 

    So for example, in 1 Corinthians 2:8, Paul notes that if the Romans and Jews had comprehended that Jesus was really "God in the flesh", then they would not had crucified Him. For those influenced by Molina's view, this represents an example of an alternative version of history that could had come about if the perpetrators of Christ's crucifixion would had known differently, and thus evidence for God's middle knowledge. Although such a version of history was "possible" in God's omniscience, yet, it was not "feasible", since God rather chose to bring about our version of history with the cross (see Acts 2:22-23; 4:27-28).