Systematic Theology Part 7-God Unlimited

The Doctrine of God Part 1

The second topic of our study in Systematic Theology will attempt to answer the question "What is God Like?" Before we can begin to answer that question we have to ask if it is even possible for us to know what God is like. According to Jeremiah 9:23-24 it is clear that we can, at least to some extent, know what God is like.

Jeremiah 9:23-24-"Thus says the Lord: 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me...'"

The question that then follows is "how can we know Him and how much of Him can be known?" This question will be answered as we begin to study the attributes of God.

During this study of God we will be taking some notes from the previous books mentioned but will add the book The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer to our reference list.

When talking about God's attributes it's important to understand that it is different than when talking about a person's attributes.

God's Attributes:

1. ...are "whatever may be correctly ascribed to God." (Tozer, p20)

2. ...are "whatever God has in any way revealed as being true of Himself." (Tozer, p20)
-Remember that we can only know God by what he has revealed to us about himself. He has done this most directly through the Bible.

3. ...are not what he HAS but what he IS.
This is the most important distinction between attributes of man and attributes of God. God does not grow or diminish in His attributes but has them in perfection. He has always fully had his attributes and always will. In Deuteronomy 6:4 we see that God is declared to be ONE. Not only is there one true God but he is ONE in his nature. He must always be what he has always been. You cannot remove any one part of Gd and still have God. I may lose my patience but I am still Ryan. If God were to lose his patience he would no longer be God. God IS all that he is.

A person has patience. God is perfect patience.
A person has love. God is perfect love.
A person has goodness. God is perfect goodness.
A person has life. God is perfect life.

In God one attribute is tied to all others in a perfect and complete whole.

In Genesis 1:27 we see that God created us in his image. What does that mean? Does that mean that we have all of who God is in us? We have already seen that our attributes grow and change while God's do not. We can also know that God has some attributes that we do not find in ourselves. In fact, God has 2 different types of attributes: communicable and incommunicable.

Communicable
God's communicable attributes are the ones that has a counterpart, to some extent, in creation. For example: spiritual, life, personality, knowledge, wisdom, faithfulness, love, goodness, grace, mercy, patience, and more. In God these attributes are seen in perfection. In man these attributes are limited.

Incommunicable
God's incommunicable attributes are the ones that have no counterpart in creation. Fore example: unity, self-existence, unchangeableness, perfection, infinity, incomprehensible, eternal, immense, omnipresence and more.

Two of these incommunicable attributes in particular cause a problem with our study of God: God is incomprehensible and infinite.

God is Incomprehensible
Something that is incomprehensible is very difficult to understand. The same can be said about God. There is much about God we cannot know.

1 Timothy 6:16-God dwells in unapproachable light
Psalm 145:3-God's greatness is unsearchable
Psalm 139:6-God has such high knowledge we cannot attain it.
Isaiah 40:18-God cannot be compared to anyone
Romans 11:33-God's judgments are unsearchable

Our language is even limited in its ability to describe God. The est we can do is describe God in a "like" or "as" sort of way. We see this in Ezekiel 1:26-28 where Ezekiel is trying to describe the scene of glory he has been shown. The more he describes the more uncertain his words become because, in this life, there really is nothing to compare to the greatness and glory of God. What Ezekiel was seeing was real but unlike anything ever seen or imagined.

According to Tozer "We are trying to envision a mode of being altogether foreign to us, and wholly unlike anything we have known in our familiar world of matter, space, and time." (Tozer, p69)

Novation in On the Trinity says, "God is greater than mind itself, his greatness cannot be conceived...could we conceive of His greatness He would be less than the human mind which could form the conception. he is greater than all language, and no statement can express Him. Indeed, if any statement could express Him, He would be less than human speech which could by such statement comprehend and gather up all that He is. All our thoughts about Him will be less than He, and our loftiest utterances will be trivialities in comparison with Him." (Novation, p26-27)

"It is obviously impossible for a limited mind to grasp the Unlimited." (Tozer p69)

God is Infinite
And that is what God is...Infinite, unlimited, measureless.

I am amazed by some of the measurements science can make. Check these out:
Nucleus of an atom-0.000000000000001 meters
Diameter of a strand of hair-0.001 inches
Deepest part of the ocean-Mariana Trench-6.7 miles
Distance of Earth to moon-287,857 miles
Distance of Earth to Pluto-2,670,000,000 miles

Our human brains have figured out how to make such extreme mearsurements but cannot and will never be able to measure God.

Psalm 147:5-God's understanding is beyond measure
Job 11:7, 9-God has no limit
Isaiah 66:1-Larger than imagination can conceive
1 Kings 8:27-God cannot be contained
Romans 11:33a-Even his attributes are limitless

Even as we attempt to study the attributes of God we need to remember that his infinity relates to this area.

"God, being infinite, must possess attributes about which we can know nothing." (Tozer, p21)

We also need to remember that, though we may have some measure of understanding God's attributes, even his attributes are unlimited so we cannot measure them by human standards. As God is infinite then all of his attributes are infinite. Unlimited love. Unlimited mercy. Unlimited Grace. And more.

At this point you might be thinking, "If God is incomprehensible and infinite why bother trying to study him or know him?"

Dr. David Nelson repsonds, " Even though we cannot know God fully, we can know Him truly!"

As we start our study of the Doctrine of God keep in mind that he is incomprehensible and infinite. Don't reduce him to human terms. Always remember that when you think you have a handle on the nature of God, He is greater still. Don't give in to the temptation to reduce God to manageable terms. Instead be OK with not understanding everything about God...in fact praise him for his infinity and un-surpassing greatness!