INCOMPREHENSIBLE

GOD IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE

 

The final characteristic in the list of three attributes describing the greatness of God is INCOMPREHENSIBILITY, that is, God cannot be conceived by any creature. The intimate relationship of the three can be easily seen. With respect to perfection there is nothing lacking in God. With respect to infinity there is no limit to this God. With respect to incomprehensibility there can be no complete mental grasp of God by any finite mind. The intimacy of the three can be demonstrated by the fact that some of the same passages of Scripture sup­port all three. As in the case of PERFECTION AND INFINITY, INCOMPREHENSIBILITY extends to the entire spiritual essence of God and to each of His attributes.

1. The Biblical material setting forth the incomprehensibleness of God is both explicit and implicit. Testimony to this fact runs throughout the Bible. Some of the testimony is clearly stated, while other testimony is by inference, though of necessity most clear.

In moments of spiritual illumination, men speak truth far beyond their comprehension. Of the totality of God's greatness one declares, "Behold, God is great, and we know him not" (Job 36:26), "Touching the Almighty, we cannot find Him out (Job 37:23). ”Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty onto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do: deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the sea" (Job 11:7-9).

The greatness of God overwhelms the Psalmist and he is driven to exclaim, "His greatness is unsearchable" (Psa. 145:3), "neither can the number of His years be searched out" (Job 36:25); for "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God" (Psa. 90:2). "Thy years are throughout all generations...thy years shall have no end" (Psa. 102:24, 27). The UNSEARCHABLENESS of God includes His understanding (Isa. 40:28), His wisdom and knowledge and judgments and ways (Rom. 11:33), and His deeds (Job 5:9). He dwells in light to which no man can approach (1 Tim. 6:16), for no man hath seen God at any time (John 1:18).

Even a limited comprehension of the everlasting God is enough to fire with the courage of conviction the fainting and the forlorn (Isa. 40:28-31).

2. The doctrinal explanation of the incomprehensibility of God can be stated in one brief sentence or expanded into a treatise. Succinctly stated it is this, that God cannot be completely comprehended by any finite mind. One theologian has well said,

"From earliest times the church emphasized the incomprehen­sibility of God, and the absolute incapability of men to find out, to investigate His Being, and of himself to say anything about Him. God is the invisible. He dwells in a light no man can approach unto. Exactly as God, in His infinite majesty, He is not of our world. The world of our experience is the object of our investi­gation; but who shall search out the living God? The creature is the object of our perception; God is beyond the scope of the things that are seen. He is the Transcendent One, to Whom we cannot reach out. He is the Eternal; we are held within the limits of time. He is the Infinite; we are finite, and the finite cannot com­prehend the Infinite. He is One; we are many. He is the Incom­parable: He cannot be classified or defined. No chain of finite reasoning even if it is ever so keen and profound, can hope to attain to Him as its conclusion. Man, mere man, by his own power can neither affirm nor deny His existence. He may conclude to a final Cause, a Causa causarum; but a cause, even a final cause, still belongs to our world. And God is not the final Cause: He is God! Man may conceive of a Supreme Being; but God is not re­latively supreme with relation to the world: He is the Lord, the Being of beings, the Absolute, the Self-existent One, and Jehovah is His name. To conceive of Him is to make an idol. To say something about Him of ourselves is to deny His infinite majesty.^"

But the incomprehensibility of God is not the same as the UNKNOWABILITY of God. And at no time in the history of the Church have those who follow the Scriptures ever taught that God is unknowable. To the contrary, the Scriptures teach that God can be known. The natural man cannot know the things of God be­cause they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:14), but God has made a revelation of things concerning Himself in His word and they can be known by men who are born of God (1 Cor. 2:9-12).

The Spirit of God knows God completely (Rom. 8:26-27; 1 Cor.2:11), and He has been pleased to reveal many things about God. These we call the attributes of God as set forth in the Bible. As yet no theologian has ever ex­hausted this volume of information, and never will, for it is God's word. Christ affirmed that the progressive knowledge of God is vitally associated with eternal life (John 17:3). It is affirmed that true believers know God (1 John 2:13-14), and the display of certain characteristics is evidence of knowing God (1 John 2:3-4; 4:6-8). But even though God may be known, and there is room for endless pro­gressive growth in the knowledge of God, it is still true that no finite mind can completely comprehend God.

There is one exception to this rule, and that is the Godman, Christ Jesus. But His was an infinite mind. "No man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him" (Matt. 11:27). For the purpose of making known the incompre­hensible God, God was manifest in flesh, thus bringing the image of the invisible God within the grasp of men (Col. 1:15). As the Word, Christ became the com­munication of God to men (John 1:14), ever unfolding the truth of God to men (John 14:6-9; 1:13). "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true; and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:20-21).

3. Practical values are vitally associated with the incomprehensi­bility of God. There is an intellectual value in this truth. It assures men that there is an inexhaustible field of knowledge concerning God. No theo­logian has yet plumbed its depths or spanned its breadth. Inasmuch as men were created by God with an insatiable longing to make progress in knowledge, here is an area where men can find endless attraction (Prov. 25:2).

There is also a spiritual value that grows out of this attribute of God. It is a most humbling illumination to realize that the human mind, however keen and ambitious, can never exhaust the truth about God. Only as God is pleased to reveal and illuminate the truth can the finite mind explore this vast area. At this point the human mind and heart have reached the position of prostration where worship is experienced. In this state of highest ecstasy the spirit pours forth an inexpressible adoration in the presence of a God who is infinitely incompre­hensible (Rom. 11:33-36).

Moreover, the incomprehensibility of God generates the comfort and courage of conviction that is necessary to carry God's people through the most inconceivable discouragement and darkness. This was the message of Isaiah to the people of Israel for the dark days of Babylonian captivity and the tribulation of succeeding millenniums (Isa. 40): "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isa. 40:31).