https://www.openbible.info/topics/god_is_incomprehensible
Unexplained: http://www.openbible.info/topics/unexplained
Why God Is Incomprehensible
The main reasons for God’s incomprehensibility are:
- God is infinite and his creatures are finite. By definition, creatures depend on their Creator for their very existence and are limited in all aspects. Yet God is without limitations in every quality he possesses. This Creator/creature, infinite/finite gap will always exist.
- The perfect unity of God’s attributes is far beyond the realm of human experience. God’s love, wrath, grace, justice, holiness, patience, and jealousy are continually functioning in a perfectly integrated yet infinitely complex way.
- The effects of sin on the minds of fallen humans also greatly inhibit the ability to know God. The tendency of fallen creatures is to distort, pervert, and confuse truth and to use, or rather abuse, it for selfish ends rather than for God’s glory (Rom. 1:18–26).
- A final reason God can never be fully known is that in his sovereign wisdom God has chosen not to reveal some things: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut. 29:29). Many would label it unloving for God to decide to withhold some information from his people. They wrongly believe God should reveal everything they may want to know. Yet, as with all good fathers, God’s wisdom leads him to refrain from answering all the questions his children ask him, and this contributes to his incomprehensibility.
In heaven, God’s incomprehensibility will no doubt be lessened when the effects of sin no longer ravage minds and when he will most likely share some of his secrets. However, God will always be infinite and humans will always be finite, so he will always be beyond human ability to know exhaustively.
Implications of God’s Incomprehensibility
Because God can never be fully known, those who seek to know God should be deeply humbled in the process, realizing that they will always have more to learn. The appropriate response to God is a heart of wonder and awe in light of his incomprehensible greatness.
God’s incomprehensibility also means that beliefs can be held with firm conviction even though they may be filled with inexplicable mystery. The Trinity, the divine and human natures of Christ, divine sovereignty and human responsibility, and many other core teachings of the Christian faith are profoundly mysterious; believing them requires a robust affirmation of the incomprehensibility of God.
The Knowability of God
The incomprehensibility of God could lead to despair or apathy in the quest to know God, but the Bible also teaches that God is knowable. While God can never be exhaustively understood, he can be known truly, personally, and sufficiently. God is personal, has definite characteristics, and has personally revealed himself so that he can be truly known. The multiplication of grace and peace in our lives is dependent on knowing God (2 Pet. 1:2–3), and this knowledge provides sufficient resources for life and for becoming the people God wants us to be.
Knowledge of God in Christ should be our greatest delight (Jer. 9:23–24; 1 Cor. 2:2; Gal. 6:14). It is the basis of attaining eternal life (John 17:3); it is at the heart of life in the new covenant (Heb. 8:11–12); it was Paul’s primary goal (Phil. 3:10); and it leads to godly love (1 John 4:7–8). God will never be known absolutely, but we can know things about him that are absolutely true, so much so that we can be willing to live and die for those beliefs. God has provided knowledge of himself that is personal, relational, and sufficient for fruitful, faithful, godly living. No one will ever be able to say he lacked the necessary revelation to know God and to start living as God intends.
Implications of the Knowability of God
God’s personal and sufficient revelation of himself should foster solid conviction among believers. We need not live in ambiguity and uncertainty about who God is and what he demands of his creatures. The increasing influence of Eastern religions on the West, certain postmodern views of truth, and religious pluralism all emphasize God’s incomprehensibility so much that he is eventually made to seem unknowable. It then becomes impossible to say anything definitively true or false about him, and people then think that the only heresy is claiming that there is any heresy at all!
On the contrary, because of his gracious revelation and illumination, God can indeed be known. God’s knowability should lead to eager, diligent, devoted study of God’s Word so that we can understand him as he has revealed himself and avoid any false view of God that will dishonor him. We should never grow apathetic in seeking to know God because we are in fact able and equipped to know him and to please him with our lives.
1. Where Was Eden?
Life for Adam and Eve began so lovely. They had a relationship with God, a home with God, and they ruined their blessing. Their actions introduced the world to sin.
Where was the glorious home they were cast away from?
A river went out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. Gold from that land is pure; bdellium and onyx are also there. The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. – Genesis 2:10-14
No one knows firsthand what they experienced in Eden. Not only that, but no one precisely knows where the garden was located.
The four rivers mentioned are the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. The last two rivers are still around today, but not the Pishon and Gihon.
The Garden of Eden must have been in the Middle East based on the Tigris and Euphrates, but where is unclear.
2. Did Dinosaurs Exist?
Modern science has proven dinosaurs to have once existed, but the Bible does not talk about dinosaurs in the way education teaches.
There are two creatures mentioned in the Bible that seem not only monstrous in size but have almost supernatural characteristics when compared to animals today.
Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you. He eats grass like cattle. Look at the strength of his back and the power in the muscles of his belly. He stiffens his tail like a cedar tree; the tendons of his thighs are woven firmly together. His bones are bronze tubes; his limbs are like iron rods. He is the foremost of God’s works; only his Maker can draw the sword against him. – Job 40:15-19
The passage describes the creature in grand detail. This beast is to be respected and feared, especially considering only God’s sword can harm the creature. Is this creature a dinosaur, an elephant, or something else?
If this were a dinosaur, why is there only one? Where are the other dinosaurs?
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: Thou brakest the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces; Thou gavest him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness. – Psalm 74:13-14
This reference of another beast is not as menacing as the Behemoth. Still, this creature is described as being multi-headed. Was David describing actual sea monsters, or something that modern science has since named?
Today, science explains that new animal species are discovered, while others become extinct. These creatures in the Bible seem to have otherworldly origins…but, then again, Earth has had some pretty strange animals like the Tasmanian tiger, the Okapi, and the Portuguese man o’ war.
3. What Happened to the Giants?
Giants were indeed mentioned in the Bible, though not in great detail.
The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them: the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown. – Genesis 6:4
Why do people not grow to be giants now? Was this a specific race of people?
Other interpretations about the Nephilim describe them as the offspring of fallen angels. They appear in Scripture a very few times.
4. Where Is Evolution?
The Bible does not directly talk about the idea of evolution. While God created all life from man to animal alike, there is no direct description of the evolutionary process.
Evolution is by no means the main concept of scripture—a story of redemption—and thus, it remains a biblical mystery.
5. What about Those Atoms?
Similarly to evolution, there is no direct mention of atoms in the Bible. Science says that atoms are the basic building blocks of matter.
The Bible offers no definition and has left the discovery of atoms up to modern science.
6. Is There Life in Space?
“I want to believe,” was often said by Agent Mulder on the popular show The X-Files. He was obsessed with alien life, unlike his fellow Christian agent, Dana Scully, who held substantial doubt.
There are a number of what appear to be UFOs in Renaissance paintings. These images often depicted holy people or settings, including Mary and Jesus.
The Bible doesn’t offer answers about alien life on other planets. Though if life exists elsewhere, God has created them also.
7. Dating in Biblical Times?
Young Christians who are dating today look to the Bible for guidance. There are plenty of helpful tips for people to discern, such as loving others, expressing forgiveness, and fleeing sexual temptation.
Yet, the Bible does not focus on dating as modern society does. People in the Bible did not date for years before getting married. The culture of the ancient Israel seemed to consist of at least some prearranged marriages.
People in the Bible also married young. Men often had multiple wives. Virginity was valued.
The Bible does not offer any clear Scripture on whether or not arranged marriages are right or wrong, but there is plenty of Scripture to guide couples through the dating process even if those in the Bible themselves did not date.