I. Theology Proper- 2. The Knowledge of God

I. Theology Proper

2. The knowledge of God

It is a clear doctrine of Scripture that God can be known. This knowledge of God is given to us by God through revelations of himself, in general revelation (nature) and specific or special revelation (His Word). This knowledge of God, is however, limited so that mankind can not, and never will be able to fully comprehend God and His nature. Many ancient philosophers taught that God can be fully known just like any other object of knowledge. However, for one to consciously conceive with the imagination an object of infinite detail and depth, one must first have objects with which a comparison can be made. This is the downfall for this intuitive reasoning. Man has nothing that can compare with their Creator, and Sustainer. 

Older theologians believed that man can know God by the way of negation, by the way of eminence, and by the way of causality. In other words, we deny God any limitation, we ascribe to Him every excellence in the highest degree, and we attribute to Him the highest cause for every attribute manifested through His works. In learning of God, supernatural revelation paired with God’s intervention is necessary. Thus, God cannot be fully understood, but He can be truly known.

Necessity for God to reveal Himself-

If we are to understand and know God at all, it is necessary that He give us this knowledge. Paul says that what can be known about God is plain to people “because God hath shown it to them” (Rom 1:19). The knowledge of God revealed a more personal way, unto salvation, comes from God the Son: (Matt 11:27). This knowledge is not found through human effort: (1 Cor 1:21; 1 Cor 2:14; 2 Cor 4:3-4; John 1:18). Therefore, scripture is needed to teach man of God’s character. John Calvin eloquently writes on this need for Scripture in allowing man to know God.

Since God, in order to bring the whole human race under the same condemnation, holds forth to all, without exception, a mirror of His Deity in His works, another and better help must be given to guide us properly to God as a Creator.. . .For as the aged, or those whose sight is defective, when any book, however fair, is set before them, though they perceive that there is something written are scarcely able to make out consecutive words, but, when aided by glasses, begin to read distinctly, so Scripture, gathering together the impressions of Deity, which, till then, lay confused in our minds, dissipates the darkness, and shows us the true God clearly.

Thus, the Bible tells us how to understand the testimony about God found in nature. We therefore rely on God’s active communication to us in Scripture for the true knowledge of God.

We can truly know Him-

The Scripture plainly tells us many things about God’s character and attributes which lead us to a knowledge of Him so true that therefore know God. We know that He is love (1 John 4:8), light (1 John 1:5), spirit (John 4:24), just and righteous (Rom 3:26), etc. To say that we know this is not saying that we know all about God’s love, light, etc, but that we know of Him through those attributes. We also can know some of God’s thoughts from Scripture, and like David, when we know them, find them to be “precious” (Ps 139:17). Some people say that we can only know facts of God, but not Him. But Scripture does not speak that way. (Jer 9:23-24): “understands and knows me.” Jesus said (John 17:3): That they know you. . .”  The Son of God has come and given us greater understanding of who God is. (1 John 5:20; Gal 4:9; Phil 3:10; 1 John 2:3; 1 John 4:8). Also, John can say that “I can write to you because you know the Father” (1 John 2:13).

We will never fully know Him-

The modern German philosophers believe that all science, all true philosophy, must be founded on the knowledge of being, and not of phenomena. They reject the authority of the senses and of consciousness, and teach that it is only by the immediate cognition of the Absolute that we arrive at any true or certain knowledge. God, or rather, the Infinite, can be as thoroughly known and comprehended as the simplest object of sense or of consciousness; He is, only so far as He is known. It seems impossible that finite man could believe himself to be able to understand the infinite when he cannot even understand the finite in this temporal universe.

To say that one knows the infinite implies that he or she is  infinite. Only the infinite can comprehend the infinite. To say that one can understand God fully, then, implies that he or she believes themselves to be God. Also, the infinite, as one would therefore claim to be, cannot know. Infinite is Absolute. All knowledge is limitation and difference. It supposes a distinction between subject and object, between the knower and what is known, inconsistent with the idea of the Absolute. It therefore implies that the Absolute be conscious, but consciousness involves a distinction between self and not-self. It is knowledge of ourselves separate from what is not ourselves.

Therefore, from a philosophical approach, man cannot fully know God. From a Scriptural approach, we see that God is incomprehensible. (Ps 145:3; Ps 147:5; Ps 139:6). Paul implies this incomprehensibility in 1 Cor 2:10-12. At the end of Romans, after spending so much time studying God’s redemptive plan, Paul declares: (Rom 11:33). We can never fully understand God’s being, but also we can never fully understand each one of His attributes: his greatness (Ps 145:3), his understanding (Ps 147:5), his knowledge (Ps 139:6) etc, are ALL beyond our ability to fully understand. Other verses support this idea: (Isa 55:9; Job 26:14). 

This doctrine of Incomprehensibility is an encouragement to us as believers because we will never exhaust the study of God, and never run out of things to study and learn! Paul tells us we are to lead lives that “increase in the knowledge of God” (Col 1:10). We should grow in our knowledge of this infinite Being and Creator all our lives. The final thought is summed up by David as he learned more and more about God’s thoughts and His joy increased and increased: (Ps 139:17-18).