GOD IS INTELLIGENT
The Bible also makes it clear that GOD IS INTELLIGENT. By this term it is meant
that God possesses a mind or the mental capacity for acquiring knowledge; that
is, He has the ability to think, reason, understand, comprehend, discern, engage
in mental activity, and thus to formulate ideas and communicate those ideas to
other beings possessing like faculties. God is said to possess a mind,
knowledge, understanding, wisdom. God is said to know things, that He knew
things, that they are known to Him.
In analyzing the quality of intelligence in God, five things are
affirmed by the Scriptures: mind, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and words.
1. Mind: the capacity for
acquiring information and reflecting upon that information. Early in the
Scriptures, this quality of God is affirmed. A man is apprehended for blasphemy
of God, that is, the affirmation of untruth about God. So he is put in prison
so that the "mind of the Lord"
might be revealed to him (Lev. 24:12).
In the New Testament, several references are made to the mind of the Lord. God
knows the "mind of the Spirit,"
which is all encompassing, and this comes as encouragement to the praying saint
(Rom. 8:27). So infinite are the
methods and movements of God in salvation that there is no one "who hath known the mind of the
Lord" (Rom. 11:34; 1 Cor. 2:16).
The Spirit of God alone is capable of searching out the depths of the divine
mind (1 Cor. 2:11). It was left to
the divine Son to reveal that mind, which mind has been communicated to the
believer by the Spirit (Phil. 2:5; 1
Cor. 2:16).
2.
Knowledge: the complete mass of information in possession
of the divine mind providing the material upon which God reflects. This is infinite
in extent. In the prayer of Hannah, she ascribes to God the fact that "the Lord is a God of knowledge"
(1 Sam. 2:3). The word knowledge is
in the plural which is her way of affirming that God's knowledge is infinite,
that is, without an end. God is omniscient. He knows everything. Balaam, though
earnestly desiring to perform the wish of Balak for hire, found himself
arrested by the infinite knowledge of God in his prophecy against Israel (Num. 24:16). Elihu, even in his
immaturity, was capable of apprehending in a limited way that God is "perfect in knowledge" (Job 37:16). But it was left to Christ
to reveal that in Him "are hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3).
3.
Understanding: the comprehension of information
in possession of God as to its precise meaning. God is not a mere depository
for vast quantities of information. He also knows its qualitative
significance. Complete understanding is hidden from all living. Some think it
all issues in destruction and death. But "God
understands the way thereof, and he knows the place thereof" (Job 28:20-23). It is this quality
imparted to man in his creation that enables man to understand (Job 32:8). When filled with the Spirit
of God, men are endowed with the quality of understanding to a marked degree.
This was true for workmen whom God qualified for special tasks in the building
of the tabernacle (Exod. 31:3; 35:31).
4. Wisdom: the control exercised in the use of knowledge so that it
serves a good and useful end. These points to the method God employs in the application
of knowledge, so that it accomplishes good for men and ultimately brings glory
to Himself. By wisdom God created the heavens and the earth (Prov. 3:19-20). "And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very
good" (Gen. 1:31). The
creation was not only good in itself, but it was intended for the good
of mankind (Gen. 1:28-30). But in
the most ultimate sense, His wisdom led Him to create for His own glory (Rev. 4:11). In anticipation of the
human possibility of sin, God devised the plan of salvation, the wisdom of
which cannot be searched out (Rom. 11:33),
and even to the angelic hosts this plan is a manifestation of the manifold
wisdom of God (Eph. 3:10). As a part
of the method of making this great plan known to men, God in His wisdom sent
prophets and apostles (Luke 11:49).
All this and much more calls for the ascription of praise that He is "the only wise God" (1 Tim. 1:17; Jude 25).
5. Words: the communication of the message to men from the divine
mind. Once mankind was created, and in the image of God, in the very nature of
the case it is implicit to the intelligence of God that He would establish a
means of communication with intelligent creatures. The highest form of communication
is words. "For the Lord giveth wisdom:
out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding" (Prov. 2:6). "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things
which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do
all the words of this law" (Deut.
29:29). To Israel, as to no other people, God revealed Himself and His will
in words (Deut. 4:32-33). God spoke
in times past to the fathers in the prophets and as a result we have the word
of God written (Heb. 1:1; 2 Pet.
1:20-21; 2 Tim.3:16). But in a way that perfectly reveals the mind of God,
He has spoken in His Son, who is the word of God living (John 1:1, 14, 18).
In modern terms, ideal intelligence involves intuitive
knowledge apart from the tedious steps of logic, reflective thought weighing
the facts of knowledge and experience, creative intelligence combining facts
into new forms and expressions, and ethical considerations displayed in
bringing about the greatest good. All this is true of God to an unlimited and
highest degree. God sees all things as they are. He weighs all the facts at one
time. He creates an endless variety of new forms. And God always uses His
mental activity for good (Job 28:25-28).
Certain practical values grow out of this attribute of
God. On the one hand, evil doers are warned to forsake their evil. Inasmuch as
God is infinite in knowledge, there is no indulgence in sin that will escape
Him (1 Sam. 2:3). Great comfort
comes to the godly, on the other hand, when he realizes that God knows the way
that he takes and the end will be for good (Job 23:10).
No comments:
Post a Comment