Post #37 The Doctrine of God - Praying through God's Attributes and How Divine Simplicity Grounds The Prayer-life

Introduction:

    In this blog series, we've navigated through the being and attributes of God. I wanted to devote a couple posts to the important truth of Divine simplicity, and its particular application to our prayer life. My hope is these current posts are causing us to seek God at a deeper level. Eventually, we will devote future posts to what I will call "part two" of our study of the doctrine of God or "Theology Proper" - the doctrine of the Trinity. 

    

    For now, I want to take today to show the reader the benefit of praying through God's attributes, what that looks like, and conclude with why the doctrine of Divine simplicity is the basis for our prayer life. 

    It wasn't to long ago that I found myself having one of those days that left me anxious about a whole host of life's areas. As I prayed, I asked God to help me arrive at a point of peace about the situations in question (Philippians 4:6-7). As I continued to pray and wrestle with the thoughts going through my mind, a sudden idea occurred: "why not select an attribute of God and pray about the situations through that attribute?" 

    I don't doubt that at that very moment, the Holy Spirit was illuminating me to an insight in connection with the Scripture (compare 1 Corinthians 2:10-13). So, I sought the Lord at that moment as God that is always loving, always merciful, always opposed to sin, always happy with Himself, unchanging in His love for me, and always loyal in knowing about my circumstance. In praying that way, I dwelled respectively on His love, mercy, holiness, blessedness, immutability, and omniscience. 

    Do you know that the instant I prayed that prayer, an enormous peace came over me! Since that day, I have pondered on what it would be like to base one's prayer-life on the attributes of God. Let me assure the reader that this notion is not novel. Millennia attest to the scores of Christian writers who have expounded at length on using the perfections of God as a means of prayer.  

What are God's attributes?

    An attribute of God is a perfection that is an expression of His essence as God. To take but one example, we read in 1 John 4:8 that "God is love". For God, love is not just an attribute that God possesses as a feature, but rather, love is God's very essence expressing itself perfectly as love. In other words - "God is love", incapable of being less or more in how that expression could ever be expressed from the standpoint of what He is as God. 

    Another example is found in Psalm 99:5, were we read: "holy is He". God doesn't merely "have" holiness", He is Holy". Holiness is a perfection that is an expression of His very essence.  

    As we think about God and His attributes, all of His attributes are rooted in His very essence. No one single attribute is better than the other. All of them, without exception, capture and grant to us all of who God is (as Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and what God is (the One, undivided God). 

    Concerning that last statement of "what God is", we come to find that God is indeed the "undivided God" or what theologians refer to as "Divinely simple". Thus, in the above examples, God is "lovingly-holy" and "holy-loving".

Divine simplicity and the believer's prayer-life

    Divine simplicity means God is not composed of parts, whether we speak of attempting to separate God's attributes from His Divine being or presupposing some cause that brought about God. Put another way, Divine simplicity means every attribute equally grants us God, His eternal perfections, and identity.  When we bring Divine simplicity down to the most practical level of prayer, we refer to how God is never at odds with Himself, and thus undivided when we come to Him in prayer. One writer has noted that due to God not being composed of parts, that means that when I'm falling apart, God can hold me together by virtue of His Divine simplicity.

    Divine simplicity may very well be an attribute which is hardly discussed today, yet, it can help us in gaining confidence in God in prayer. How is it that we can pray to God according to His Divine simplicity?

1. Praying through Divine simplicity affirms we have God’s undivided attention. Romans 11:33-35

    Sometimes Debi, my wife, will ask: "are you here?" because my mind is thinking in different directions. We all have “divided-attention”. We all, like every other created thing, can never be all nor give all of ourselves to everything. God alone can because He is "Divinely-simple”. Wherever you see Biblical phrases like “God is” or “is He” or God acting out an attribute, that points us to God’s divine simplicity. Consider the following passages: 

1. Psalm 99:5 “Holy is He”. 

2. Malachi 3:6 “I the Lord do not change”. 
    
3. James 1:17 “…with whom there is no variation or shifting of shadow.” 

4. 1 John 4:8 “….God is love”.   

    The Apostle Paul in Romans 11:33-36 indicates how God is undivided with respect to His abilities to give attention. Paul references God's Wisdom, Knowledge and ways as undivided and thus - unfading. My favorite passage in all the New Testament hints at God's Divine simplicity, namely Romans 11:36 - "for from Him, and to Him and through Him are all things". 

    Therefore, no matter what I am praying about, I realize that to God, past, present and future are one-big eternal now with respect to His omniscience, and that particular attribute grants me access to all His other attributes which He steadily applies in bringing about His will in my life. God's Divinely simple nature as "the undivided God" means I have His undivided attention. But notice also how this attribute strengthens our faith in prayer...

2. Praying through Divine simplicity affirms we have God’s undivided ability at hand. Romans 11:36 

    No creature is good at everything. Even in our universe, we see varying levels of stars, things wearing out, things changing (see Psalm 102). God’s ability alone never diminishes. His attributes, or perfections, never fade. Such thoughts grant confidence in prayer. How?   Practically, as mentioned above, God won’t ever fall-apart because He has "no parts" as defined by the doctrine of Divine simplicity. In other words, God's essence or "what He is" and existence or "that He is" are not divided and are not separated from His perfections. 

    As Divinely simple, God is incapable of improvement and without need of anything. When it comes to prayer, God is our all sufficiency in prayer because    He needs nothing to make Him better. We on the other hand need God, since without Him and His perfection of omnipotent, I can never have that endless source of strength needed to get through everyday life.

    Again, certain passages imply to us God's Divine simplicity by the way they mention other attributes. For example, God's immutability or His inability to change, as stated in Numbers 23:19 

“God is not a man, that He should     lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" 

Or again, the prophet Malachi writes in Malachi 3:6 

“For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed."

    One more example in the New Testament, James 1:17 

“For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed."

    Since God's Divine simplicity grants me access to every attribute that He is as God, this means that at any given point, I have all of God's unending ability to bear on the things I pray about in everyday life. Put another way, Divine simplicity teaches that since every attribute equally grants us God, we have perfections and Personal identity involved with us every step of the way.

Closing thoughts

    Today we emphasized praying by way of God's attributes. This led us to focus upon God's Divine simplicity, which refers to God being "undivided", whether in terms of His attributes, being or existence. Such a God grants us all the confidence we need in prayer. As Divinely simple, God grants to us His undivided attention and undivided power by how we have accesses to all that He is and who He is in prayer. 

Post # 36 The Doctrine of God - God's Divine Simplicity and the Christian's prayer-life

Introduction:

    In the last post I introduced the reader to the doctrine of Divine simplicity here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/02/post-35-doctrine-of-god-introduction-to.html. To say God is Divinely simple is to say He has no parts. When we talk of God's attributes, being, and the Persons of the Trinity, its not like we have those three in three seperate piles, awaiting our assembling. 

    God is not some sort of "lego-man" deity, where I have a piece of God here and a piece of God there. Those who believe that the universe is some sort of deity would commit to such an error (known as "pantheism", or the belief that god is everything and everything is god".) The God of the Bible is omnipresent yet transcendent, not confined to our universe and responsible for its existence. 

    These opening observations are vitally important when it comes to prayer. When the Christian prays, how important is it to know we have God's undivided attention? Further, God is personal, not impersonal, as pantheism would lead us to believe. The Apostle John writes in 1 John 5:14-15 what I would argue links the relevance of Divine simplicity to our prayer-life,

"This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him."

    I would argue that Divine simplicity is vital for God to be the prayer-hearing God of the Bible. How so? Five attributes of God come to mind with respect to how I would show the relevance of Divine simplicity to our prayer-life: Divine spirituality, Divine immutability, Divine omniscience, Divine omnipotence, and Divine wisdom. 

    If God's underlying unity of being and attributes is not what the Bible says, then all bets are off when it comes to affirming that God is a God who can equally hear, respond to, and thus include prayer in how He executes His will. Let's trace this out, since the last thing I want for the reader to have is only a theoretical understanding of Divine simplicity, unrelated to prayer. 

Divine simplicity the the spirituality of God in our prayer-life

    Since the doctrine of Divine simplicity asserts that God is without parts, and that everything in God is God, the spirituality of God is a good attribute to start in seeing how Divine simplicity is relevant to prayer. 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."

    It was Jesus who gave the clearest summary of this perfection of Divine spirituality in the context of prayer in John 4:24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." The Apostle Paul affirms a similar idea about God not being confined to temples, since God is by nature spiritual, thus "in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:25-28). 

    To know that God is Divinely simple in His spirituality is to assert that this is what God is, and as such, God's whole activity in hearing and answering prayer is not limited by time, space, or circumstance. As Dr. Steven J. Lawson comments in his own work on the attribute of Divine spirituality, God is "infinite, without limitations in regards to any attribute, His being, and thus His character." 

Divine simplicity and Divine immutability for our prayer-life.

    Whenever we talk about Divine simplicity, what we're saying is that God in His being is His attributes. Put another way, whatever attribute I'm talking about, I am talking about the God who is by nature what that attribute conveys.  The attributes of God are whole expressions of the Divine nature, since everything that is in God is God. 

    God's Divine unchangeability or immutability is affirmed in the Bible as not just something that God has, but rather what He is by nature (see Number 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). When it comes to anchoring our confidence in prayer, God's immutability entails Divine simplicity, since an unchanging God, by nature, is required for prayer's answers to allign with His unwavering character. 

    One of the clearest examples of how we connect Divine simplicity, Divine immutability, and prayer relate is in James 1:3-17. James 1:5-8 states,

"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."

    It is later that James writes in James 1:17 "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

    Here we see that God is a God without parts, whereby in Him there is no variation, no change, no element of changeability that characterizes everything else that is created and thus not God. We live in a world that is prone to change, variation, and thus is composed of parts. God and God alone can be our Divine reference point whenever we need an anchor for our prayer-life. 

Divine simplicity and Divine omniscience in our prayer-life

    Divine simplicity asserts that God is, by nature, all His attributes, since those perfections are each a whole expression of His Divine being. Omniscience is vitally important to consider when we pray to God. Note David's words in Psalm 139:1-6

"O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know it all. 5 You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it."

    The doctrine of Divine simplicity, as it relates to Divine omniscience, assures me that God's knowledge cannot have any division, weakening, nor improvement, since Divine Simplicity asserts that God was never composed by anything outside of Himself and thus cannot get better or worse. 

    You and I can forget, or demonstrate limits to our knowledge. We are comprised of parts, meaning we have memories, impressions of thoughts, recollections - in other words, different activities of our intellects. For God, He simply "knows". William Ames, a 17th century writer, states in his "Marrow of Divinity", "The attributes of God set forth What God is, and Who he is."

    As for our prayers, God knows what we are going to pray, how He will use our prayers, and the answers He will give - all in one Divine intellectual act. For God - past, present, and future are equally known, seen, and fully apprehended. 

Divine simplicity, Divine omnipotence, and our prayer-life

    So far we've seen how Divine simplicity undergirds God's spirituality, immutability, and omniscience in our prayer-life. But what about God's Divine omnipotence? For God to execute all the other prior perfections, it necessarily follows He would be omnipotent, since infinite power is befitting to His charcter as God. 

    God as a Divinely simple being tells me that the Divine nature cannot be divided, which means that God's power cannot wax and wane as everything else apart from Him does. Prayer in our Christian experience can of course wax and wane. We get tired. Our devotion to God fluctuates. Yet our omnipotent God never waxes and wanes in His power (Isaiah 40:28). 

    An example of what I'm talking about with respect to Divine simplicity, omnipotence, and our prayer-life is in the contrast the psalmist presents between the idols of the nations and the omnipotent God in Psalm 115:3-9,

"But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man’s hands. 5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see;6 They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; 7 They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat.8 Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them."

    The deities worshipped by the nations are "complex deities", that is, they are composed, made of parts by the hands of men, and conceived of in the sinful human imagination. God, on the otherhand, doesn't "have" this or that attribute, He just simply "is" His perfections. Furthermore, God is omnipotent, executing His Sovereign purpose "as He pleases". For prayer to work, we need an omnipotent God who is Divinely simple in His essence. 

Divine simplicity, Divine wisdom, and our prayer-life

       God's wisdom is that perfection whereby He guides and executes His intended means and goals according to His good pleasure. Divine wisdom requires the Divine will to be unified, without division. The doctrine of Divine simplicity ensures that God is indeed "God only wise" (1 Timothy 1:17, KJV, NKJV). We read in Proverbs 2:6 

"For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding." 

    The doctrine of Divine simplicity tells us that God does not merely have wisdom to give, rather He is only wise, and thus when He communicates wisdom, nothing is subtracted from Him. James 1:5 reminds us of God's wisdom as it pertains to our prayer-life, 

"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." 

    As I've been stating throughout this post, whenever I am focused upon any one of God's attributes, I have all of God in that attribute, since the doctrine of Divine simplicity states God is His attributes. Put more concretely, I literally have God's undivided attention, whether I'm seeking Him as He is as God only wise, God omnipotent, God omniscient, God unchanging, or God that is entire spirituality by nature.

Closing thoughts for today:

    In this post I've attempted to relate the doctrine of Divine simplicity to the Christian's prayerlife. We've done so by observing how Divine simplicity operates in our prayerlife by our interractions wirh God in His spirituality, immutability, omnipotence, omniscience, and wisdom. I'd like to close out with a prayer that seeks God as the Divinely simply God. 

O great God, you are without parts. There is no variation nor shifting of shadow within you. You are eternal, and nothing, anyone, or anything was responsible for why you are God. You are God, and there is no other. You are alone wise, you never forget me nor do you love me for what you would see me do or neglect to perform. You are alone loving, love without beginning, without ending, lovingly sending the Son to die and raise for my sins, choosing me in love, without beginning, only because you love. 

    You alone are holy, too pure to look upon sin and too transcendent to be reached by any creature. You, great God, God without parts, are self-sufficient, nothing in you is missing. 

    You are the one who is, who was, who ever will be. Your Divine Godhead, without division, wholly resides in who you are as Father, Son, and Spirit. To you Father I do come, you are without origin, wholly Divine, without parts as truly God, who chose me, loves me, and is all-compassionate, all-holy, hollowed be your name. 

    To you Father I come through the Son, equal in all respects to you, sharing in the simplicity of nature, begotten from you from eternity. Lord Jesus Christ, you are, by your deity, God without parts, without passions, ever loving me, became man to suffer for my sake, and rise as man, ascending as man, all for my sake. 

    To the Father and through the Son I come by the Spirit, who with the Father and Son is to be worshipped and glorified. Thank you Lord Jesus for having the Father send the Spirit in your name. He who proceeds from the Father through you gives me access to the undivided God. 

    Oh great LORD, you who are without parts, constant in every perfection, I know that through the Son I have your undivided attention. Your mercy is unceasing only because of the merit won for me by the Son dying and rising in His humanity. He in His deity, one with you and the Spirit, is my Mediator, perfect, complete in-and-of Himself. To you God I trust this prayer is heard. Whatever you deem best, may your will be done in my life this day, amen.  

Post #35 The Doctrine of God - An Introduction To God's Divine Simplicity

 

Introduction: 

       In the last post I briefly mentioned the doctrine of "Divine Simplicity" at the beginning before finishing out our study of God's Divine immutability and omnipresence. Interested readers may view the last post here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/02/post-34-doctrine-of-god-p2-divine.html. 

    Matthew Barrett in his book "Simply Trinity - The Unmanipulated Father, Son, and Holy Spirit", writes the following about what is meant by "Divine Simplicity",

"To confess God as one is also to confess God is one. He is one by nature, he is one in nature."

    What Barrett is stressing here is God's one undivided nature or essence. What makes God, God, and what makes up God is, well, "God". There is nothing in God that isn't God by nature. This is what Barrett is saying. He then goes on,

"He is not made up of parts but a God without parts. There is in Him no composition, nor can He be compounded by parts. If He could, then He would be a divided being (parts are divisible by definition), a mutable being (parts are prone to change), a temporal being (parts require a composer), and a dependant being (parts require a composer)."

    When Barrett speaks of "parts", what is he meaning? When the doctrine of Divine simplicity asserts "God without parts", by "parts" is meant how we typically talk about things in the created realm that makes them what they are, or what we call "properties". I as a human being have the "properties" or "parts" of being a physical or material body, and an immaterial soul, with a mind, emotions, a will, and containing that innermost "part" - my human spirit. Such properties or "parts" have developed and grown over time. When we speak of people, universes, or angels, we talk about them as having "parts" or properties that combine together to make them what they are. In my soul are the functions of mind, emotions, and will. I think, feel, and choose way differently than I did when I was younger. As the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:11, 

"When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things."

    When we talk of God having "no parts", we mean that in discussing His being and attributes, we don't have "being" in one pile and "attributes" in another pile. If God had these as "properties", this would entail He was somehow constructed to become the God He is today - which would make the parts or process of making God "God" to be greater than God Himself. Divine simplicity is crucial to preserving the unity of God in His being and attributes. James 1:17 reminds us, "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

 

    As we continue on in our study of the doctrine of God, I want to spend this post and the next few exploring this fundamental doctrine in the overall study of theology proper. To aid myself and the reader alike, I will underline certain terms in the first part of this posting that will come in handy as we move forward.  

My Boyhood Fascination With Model Cars

      When I was a boy, I came to enjoy the hobby of building model cars. Whenever my parents and I would go to the store, they would allow me to purchase a model kit - along with assorted paints and glue. I can recall sitting up until the "wee-hours" of the morning assembling the kit from the parts. The box included the "parts" for the car. Now think about what I just said above about "parts" with respect to creatures on the one-hand, and God not having "parts" on another. The analogy I am about to share will hopefully serve to shed further light.

        The nature or "essence" of such cars were certain materials such as plastic (molded clear and colored parts) along with rubber tires, metal axles and my favorite - the decals. Once I began the project of assembling and painting the model, although I had the parts, paint and glue, one could legitimately say that until completion, the given model car did not yet exist. The assembling of the model represented a certain "potential" for it becoming what was pictured on the box. Once I completed a given model car, I would proudly bring it to my father for him to inspect and approve. The car as assembled, officially "existed" in the sense that all of its parts were fitted together to complete the "form" recognized on the box. 

Model cars, universes, humans and angels are "complex" and thus created things

        The opening illustration does serve a purpose besides that of a charming memory. As we build on some of the terms used in the story, we can begin to understand what is meant by "complexity" with respect to what classifies all created things. Model cars represent a feature common to all created objects and beings - including human beings - a feature deemed "complexity" by theologians and philosophers. Words change usage and meaning with time - with terms such as "complex" and its opposite, "simple",  being no different. 

       Whenever anything is described by the term "complex", we're not referring to that object or person as "too difficult to be truly known". Instead, the word "complex", as used in describing a given object or being, refers to how it is composed of parts and how such parts or properties relate to the whole of its being. 

       The opposite concept that is the focal point of today's post and the next is the term "simplicity". Simplicity describes how something is "not composed of parts" and whose whole being and attributes have existed from all eternity (more on this later). It will be argued that God alone occupies, in the most purest sense, what is meant when we say He is "Divinely simple". 

    By describing first what defines "complex" objects and beings, we are presenting a contrast that will aid us in beginning to understand what we mean when we that God, by essence and existence, is not composed of parts.   

       So, back to model cars and such. The model car illustration entails an object that has parts. The "parts" represent the various features that require assembly by an assembler (which, in the case of the above illustration, would involve a model-car builder). Complex entities also involve their essence (that is, "what" makes an object or being what it is") as coming before their existence (that is, "how" an object or being carries forth what it is upon the completion of its creation). 

       Model cars, people and universes have, at some point in their past, had potential to become what they were. All created things had a beginning and at some point neither had "essence" nor "existence". The model car did not even have its parts formed at some point in its past. However, a designer and a factory produced the parts - making kits that contained "potential" model-cars. Only when the car was constructed did it go from a "potential" to an "actual car". 

       Our universe, at sometime in the finite past, did not exist. The Old and New Testament scriptures (i.e. Genesis 1:1; Psalm 33:6; Romans 11:36; 1 Corinthians 8:6) tell us that God created all things by the word of His mouth. Moreover, current findings by astronomers have corroborated models of the universe that give strong evidence to the universe having a beginning. The universe was "assembled" from nothing to become "something" - containing all sorts of "parts" (i.e. atoms, forces, planets, galaxies, ourselves). The universe is the biggest example of a "complex" object.

       Then we come to beings such as ourselves. Human beings are "composite" or "complex". Scripture indicates that, at bare minimum, human beings are non-physical minds or souls endowed with freedom of the will and moral intuitions (see Genesis 1:26; 2:7; Numbers 16:22; 27:16). Human beings are immaterial persons dwelling in and interacting with a physical body composed of a brain with trillions of neurons connected to a body of bone, muscles and blood (Genesis 1:26; 2:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12). 

      Further distinctions show human beings are special above their animal counterparts in how they are made in God's image. The image of God refers to how humans are created with the potential for interaction with God (Genesis 1:26; 9:6; Psalm 8:1-4; Hebrews 11:1,6). 

        Human beings fit the category of "complexity" or "composite" as described above. In other words, there was a point when each human being's essence was nothing more than 23 chromosomes from each parent. Once conception took place, the immaterial aspect of personality or soul (i.e. "life") initiated the existence of that person in embryonic form (since they had not ever pre-existed). Those physical and non-physical elements, which represented a "potential but not-yet person", came together in the womb to become an "actual" person in the fullest sense (Psalm 139:7; Jeremiah 1:5; Galatians 1:15). The "essence" or "stuff of existence" comes before the final composition or "existence" of the above examples. Such qualities describe such things as "complex" and thus created things.

       So, what about the angels? Even angels, which are described as "ministering spirits" (Hebrews 1:14) and "flames of fire" (Psalm 104:4), are "complex", since there was a point that they didn't exist and God's formation of their immaterial "essence" or "whatness" came before they were completed as His servants that do His bidding (Job 38:7; Psalm 104:4; Revelation 19:10).

God is not "complex" or composed of parts, but rather, is what is referred to as Divinely simple

      As noted earlier, words can change their meanings or add additional senses over time. Whenever we come to God and describing what sets Him apart from all creation, the term "simple" is employed by some theologians and philosophers. By the term "simple", we're not at all saying God is easy to figure out or that we can comprehend Him in all His entirety. Instead, the term "simple", as used millennia ago by Christian thinkers in the ancient church such as Irenaeus of Lyons (180 A.D.) and middle ages (Anselm of Canterbury 1078 A.D. and Thomas Aquinas, 1270's) refers to how God is not composed of parts. 

      Furthermore, in contrast to "complex" created beings and things whose "essence" proceeds their "existence" (that is, the stuff they're made of, including various traits, require composition by a composer to bring them from a state of "potentially being something" to "actually being something" or existence), a simple being like God is eternally complete. All of God's traits and attributes by way of His "existence" (i.e. "how God is God") and His eternal, immaterial nature by manner of His "essence" (i.e. "what God is as God) have eternally and simultaneously continued as one, living, uncreated reality. 

      These thoughts, hopefully, direct our minds toward contemplating what kind of God God is and why He is worthy of our worship. For now, we will end today's post and continue on in the next. 

More next time.....

Post #34 The Doctrine of God: P2 Divine Omnipresence and Immensity - Distinctions, Reflections, and Applications

Introduction:

     As we once more explore the wonderous eternal nature of the Biblical God, we are to be reminded of how God's attributes and nature are related. God's attributes are not a group of "parts" that attach somehow to God's being like lego bricks to a base. As theologian James Dolezal is fond of saying "all that is in God is God", which means the attributes are of the same "substance" as the Divine nature because the attributes themselves are but full expressions of the selfsame nature. In future posts I'll deal with what is called "Divine Simplicity", which is at the heart of the classical Christian theism being studied in this current series. 

    Suffice to say, the attributes of God are full expressions of the Divine essence. God doesn't "have" attributes, instead, He is His attributes. Put another way, God's love means God is loving by nature. This is what John refers to when he writes in 1 John 4:8 and 4:16 "God is love". Or again, God's holiness means God is holy by nature, as expressed by the psalmist in Psalm 99. To say God is unchangeable means He is so by nature, as God Himself expresses in Malachi 3:6. As to God's impassible emotional life, we mean He is impassible or constant in His affections by nature, as touched upon in Numbers 23:19 and 1 Samuel 15:29.  Whatever other attributes we speak of pertaining to the Biblical revelation of God, identical remarks can be made of them as well. The 17th century author William Ames summarizes our point in his work "Marrow of Theology", "The attributes of God set forth What God is, and Who he is." I only touch upon these truths to remind ourselves that whichever attribute we will speak of or have covered thus far, we are still looking at the same undivided essence of the One God revealed in Scripture - this includes our current topics of Divine immensity and omnipresence.

Divine Immensity and Omnipresence more closely defined

    We spent time in the last post noting how Divine omnipresence and immensity operated within the Trinity here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-33-doctrine-of-god-p1-divine.html. As I noted in the last post, omnipresence speaks of how God by nature is everywhere present at all points. Divine immensity tells us that God cannot be contained nor bounded by anything. In this post we want to explore how God's  omnipresence and immensity operate relative to the created order.

    One of my favorite Biblical passages to consider about God's omnipresence is Psalm 139:7-12,

"Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold,You are there.9 If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will over whelm me, And the light around me will be night,” 12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You."

    In having discussed briefly how omni-presence was already operative within the Trinity from all eternity, it makes sense that this perfection would spill-over into the very universe God made. It is helpful to do a thought experiment about omnipresence to help us grasp a little bit of the enormity of this perfection.



    The above photograph is that of the so-called "Sombrero Galaxy" (so-called due to its resemblance to the hat), or as known by its more technical designation "M104". Astronomers tell us that the Sombrero Galaxy is some 28 million light years from earth and measures 50,000 light years across (see NASA's link to this galaxy at https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_283.html ). 

    It is amazing to think that God is as much present at that Galaxy as He is here with me in the chair in which I am typing this post. Remember, omnipresence describes God occupying every point in and throughout the created order.

    So what about God's immensity? The 19th century Baptist theologian J.P. Boice in his "Abstracts of Systematic Theology" describes immensity as follows,

"God is not confined to space any more than he is measured by time."

Boice later adds,

"When, therefore, we speak of God’s immensity, we mean more than his filling all space, just as when we speak of his eternity, we mean more than his existing throughout all time."

    To distinguish these two perfections of God: God's immensity deals with God's relationship to space; whereas omnipresence deals with how God occupies every point in space. Immensity tells me God cannot be confined by space, and thus transcends it; whereas omnipresence informs me God's presence expresses His being as wholly present, entirely at work, and in every point of all creation. Psalm 139:7-12 was shown as a good example of God's omnipresence. 1 Kings 8:27 reminds us of God's immensity,

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!"

    A New Testament counterpart to 1 Kings 8:27 is found in Stephen's speech in Acts 7:49, quoting Isaiah 66:1,

"Heaven is My throne, and earth is the footstool of My feet; what kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord,
‘Or what place is there for My repose?"

    It is because God is immense (transcendant and not bounded by all He has made) that He can be omnipresent (active and present in all He has made). Acts 17:24-28 features these attributes working together,

"The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’

    Paul's point is that God is not bounded by His creation, and thus doesn't require a temple (hence God's immensity). As He is omnipresent, God is not localized as He would be if he were like one of the pagan deities. Rather, God's omnipresence in and through all things and His immensity above and outside all things means He can be wholly present and at work equally and everywhere.

    Author A.W. Tozer, in his classic book "Knowledge of the Holy", writes of God's omnipresence (and we could include God's immensity),

"The doctrine of the divine omnipresence personalizes man’s relation to the universe in which he finds himself. This great central truth gives meaning to all truths and imparts supreme value to all his little life. God is present, near him, next to him, and this God sees him and knows him through and thorough."

Practical distinctions to note when talking about God's immensity and omnipresence.

    As we move forward, Elmer Towns in his very accessible systematic theology entitled, "Theology for Today", notes on ppgs 119-121 some observations about God's omnipresence and immensity that aids us in application to our lives. I'll use some of his headings and then comment on each of them for our application.

1. God's omnipresence is a manifestation of His immensity.

    As we've noted already, Divine immensity means God's nature knows no limits and is not enclosed by space. God's omnipresence means He is everywhere in, through and at every point in space and outside of it. God is not confined to my little circle of life and circumstances. He is immense. He operates wholly and completely in and outside my circumstances, due to Him being also omnipresent. Recourse back to Psalm 139 shows us how David applied these two attributes to his life's circumstances. 

2. God's omnipresence allows for His transcendence. 

    What Towns is speaking of here is God's relationship to the universe itself. God as transcendance is to the created realm as an author is to a book. The author operates outside the thought-world of the book he or she is writing. With that said, theologians will often speak of another attribute that works in tandem with "transcendance", namely God's "immanance". Again, the author of a book, though "transcendant" to he thought-world of the characters and plot, nonetheless operates in and through the plot and characters to move along the plot to the intended conclusion. 

    God's omnipresence and immensity operates along these lines of transcendance and imminance. The prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 23:23-24 is where I find confirmation of these observations,

“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." 

3. God's omnipresence means He will manifest Himself in some places more than others. 

    We know by definition that God's omniscience means He is everywhere. When God makes His presence known, He is raising the apprehension of His creatures so that they can sense Him, interract with Him, and respond to Him. Ultimately, there is no place where God's influence and presence is not felt. I tend to use three terms when describing how God makes known His omnipresence and immensity. 

    The first is what we call God's "Providential presence" or omnipresence proper. God is everywhere present in a general sense, working forth His will and wisdom throughout all of the creation and through the wills of people (Acts 17:22-28). 

    The second sense in which we can apprehend God's omnipresence and immensity is what I call His "covenantal presence". This includes an environment fitted to sensing God's presence already at work, specifically in the local church where God's Word is preached and the ordinances of Lord's Supper and Baptism are practiced. The second Person of the Trinity, the incarnate Son, mediates this "covenantal dimension" of God's omnipresence and immensity in the lives of Christians and the church (see Ephesians 1:22-23). 

    The third sense that we can talk of God's omnipresence and immensity involves what theologians call His "manifest presence". This is often-times referred to how God makes His presence known and felt, primarily in Heaven among the glorified saints who have passed on from this world to Heaven (Hebrews 12:22-24). God's manifest presence can be at times experienced here in this life, whether in unusual seasons of revival, such as when He filled the tabernacle or temple in the Old Testament, or when He so moved in His church to revive it, as in the first Great awakenings of New England led by the likes of Jonathan Edwards in the 17th century

4. God's omnipresence implies His omnipotence and omniscience. 

    As Towns rightly points out, any one of the so-called "omni" attributes presupposes the other two. God must have all power in order to directly affect every point and moment in time and space as the omnipotent God, henceforth referring back to His omnipresence. In like manner, God must know the outcomes and means by which the effects of His causing all things occurs by way of His omnipotence. 

    The practical ramifications of God's omnipresence is brought home in the following observation by Towns: 

"The fact that God is means that God is here and now. He comforts, guides and protects the believer with His omnipresence. And the fact that God is here, implies that God is everywhere." 

    Certainly such Bible passages as Psalm 23 or where Jesus in His incarnation could walk the earth as man while still holding sway over creation as God (see John 3:13; Colossians 1:13-16) gives us great comfort in knowing that He will never leave us nor forsake us (see Matthew 28:18-20).

Final thoughts for our application: 

    Today we've looked at God's omnipresence and immenisty. God's omnipresence covers the highest, deepest, largest, most remote and darkest regions of created reality and life. This is the God you and I need dear reader. God's omnipresence is that constant reality that is unimpaired by life's darkness, isolation, overwhelming moments, deepest valleys and highest obstacles. God's immensity tells me He can work forth His will and purposes for me beyond the horizon of my immediate circumstances. God is not limited. Let us thank God today for His omnipresence and immensity.