This post examines attributes of God that we define as "incommunicable" because they are wholly unlike anything that can be described by finite minds or have analogy in a finite universe.
Why bother studying Theology?
- The big questions of life have answers!
- We have a purpose
- We are loved
- We know history will end, but 'His Story' will not.
If someone "created" you, wouldn't you have an obligation to acknowledge
them?
What if you were invited to a party and you
showed up, ate all the food and enjoyed yourself, but refused to acknowledge
the host who invited you? Awkward! So we should focus our attention on the host
of this party. In fact, the highest form of inquiry you could imagine is to discover your Creator.
Theology = Seeking to understand
God
The highest pursuit of your
mind
Most worthy of your time
Will affect your destination in
eternity
Many skeptics say
“there is nothing you can know about God”. If that were true, then you would know
that He is unknowable. So, then you would know
something about God.
We also want to
get a clear and accurate "picture" or "image" of God, and the study of Theology will help you find the truth.
God is Really Awesome
Probably the best "summary" is this entire series is to understand this: God is truly awesome. How awesome? So awesome that He is God! That He deserves your worship. He is "maximally" the best and greatest at everything that is Good, Holy, Righteous, Powerful, Intelligent, Loving, Forgiving...
This short YouTube video by Dr. William Lane Craig of Reasonable Faith Ministries (www.reasonablefaith.org) puts it nicely:
In our day we can read a blog or watch a video. Many years ago a group of extremely knowledgeable theologians wrote it all down in great detail. Here is an excerpt of that famous document, entitled the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which was an abridged version of the Westminster Larger Catechism. Note God is described as “a spirit, infinite, eternal, and
unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and
truth.”
CHAPTER II
Of God, and of the Holy Trinity
Of God, and of the Holy Trinity
I. There is but one only, living, and true
God, who is infinite
in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel
of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant
in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek
him; and withal, most
just, and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.
II. God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of
himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need
of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only
manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain
of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things; and hath most sovereign dominion over them,
to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever himself pleaseth. In his sight all things are open and
manifest, his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and
independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to him contingent, or
uncertain. He is most holy in all his counsels, in all
his works, and in all his commands. To him is due from angels and men, and every
other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience he is pleased to
require of them.
III. In the unity of the Godhead there be
three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Ghost: the Father is of none, neither begotten, nor
proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the
Father and the Son
God's Incommunicable Attributes
Incommunicable = cannot be translated*
(*way different from us)
Infinite in degree or measure
How do you explain "God is Infinite"?
Infinity is defined by what it "isn't" because we lack tools to describe infinities in the positive. Likewise, "Incommunicable" attributes of God are best understood in how 'unlike' they are to finite things we humans can mentally grasp.
In =
"Not". Inefficient,
incompetent, incorruptible.
"not
finite" without boundaries
There are two
types of infinity we are concerned with: qualitative and quantitative. The following are quotes from Dr. William Lane Craig "Defenders" class
Qualitative
“...if we talk about God’s love as “infinite,” what we mean is that it is
unconditional, it is boundless; but we don’t mean that it is somehow made up of
a collection of parts which are infinite in number. The love of God’s being
infinite is not a quantitative notion. Or when we talk about God’s moral
perfection and his holiness and we say he is infinitely good or holy, again
that is not a quantitative notion. We don’t mean that there are units of
holiness, and God has an infinite number of these units. It is more a
qualitative infinity. So when we talk about infinity with respect to God, we
should use the word as a qualitative notion.” ~Dr. William Lane Craig - Defenders Podcast
Quantitative
"It" is a
mathematical construct of a set of discrete things for which there is no upper
boundary of their quantity. Examples are the set of natural numbers, the set of
real numbers, etc. In the
temporal/physical universe, I've not found an example of either aspect of
infinity.
"Potential Infinities" are things
that have no upper boundary but are still finite values. If you lived forever you still were
"born" and so the amount of time can be counted. Something can mathematically approach
infinity but no actual physical things are infinite. God is different. ~Dr. William Lane Craig - Defenders Podcast
God is Self-Existent
God is not
contingent = “not caused”
"Why is there something rather than
nothing? The sufficient reason...is
found in a substance which...is a necessary Being bearing the reason for
its existence within itself."
God is not
contingent on anything else, He is not created, but “is” eternally. God has the
power of "Being" in Himself. Nothing else "needs" to be but God. God is also the source of all reality outside himself. Everything besides Himself that exists does so because God wanted it to exist. Otherwise, nothing would exist.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, [logic] and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing
was created that has been created. HCSB
A term used to describe this attribute of God is "Divine Aseity". A good resource to study this is more depth is here: Reasonable Faith Articles - Divine Aseity Here is an excerpt of a podcast transcript from Reasonable Faith the helps explain Aseity in more detail.
“Philosophers draw the distinction between necessary existence and contingent existence. God is a necessary being. His non-existence is impossible; he exists necessarily. By contrast, all other beings are contingent – they are contingent upon God as the independent, self-existent one. So it is not true that if God is a being, he is just one among many. Quite the contrary, God is the source and sustainer of all contingent beings, and he is the only metaphysically necessary being that exists.For those who press the question, when you are in conversation with them, “Where did God come from?” I think you can return with the following question: “If there is no God, then where did the universe come from?” On the atheistic view, you have got to believe that the universe is self-existent, unless you think it just popped into being uncaused out of nothing, which seems absurd. That is worse than magic. So on the atheistic view, you have got to believe the universe is a self-existent, necessary being, which is exactly the same thing that we believe about God. In other words, what the atheist is forced to do is simply to substitute the universe in the place of God." ~Dr. William Lane Craig - Defenders Podcast
God is Eternal
Eternal = Outside time, not "lots of
time"
By definition,
being self-existent necessarily means being eternal, outside the contingent
state of time. The Psalms praise God as everlasting:
Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were born, before You
gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity (past) to eternity
(future), You are God.
Psalm 93:2
Your throne has been established from the beginning; You are from
eternity
Psalm 41:13 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from
everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen
Jeremiah 10:10 But
Yahweh is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King
Job 36:26 How great is
God—beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out.
Jude 25: to the only God our
Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord,
before all ages, now and forevermore!
To summarize, the
bible clearly asserts that God “was” before time was created. God had to exist
outside and before time existed in order to create it. The best explanation for
God's interaction with creation and scripture is that now He condescends to
participate with man in a temporal state. For us the issue is to keep the
eternal perspective ahead of us. As Paul writes:
2 Corinthians 4
16-18 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet
inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles
are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix
our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is
temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. HCSB
_____________________
*Acknowledgment here to Dr. William Lane Craig and his "Defender" series for portions of this material.
Scripture citations are from: Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN
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