The Incomprehensibility and Knowability of God

I was reading through this section of my ESV study bible, and I wanted to write it down because it's something that is often discussed in bits in pieces, but rarely in fullness according to scripture. So, here is a brief overview of our ability to know God, and our inability to know God :)

The Incomprehensibility of God - it is ultimately impossible to know God FULLY:

Great is our Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable (Ps. 145:3)

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" (Rom. 11:33-34)

Why God is Incomprehensible - four main reasons:

1. God is infinite and his creatures are finite. I will die soon, but God will never die because he is eternal.

2. 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." In my interpretation, how in the world can one be both full of love and full of wrath? Fully just, and fully gracious? Incomprehensible.

3. The effects of sin on the minds of fallen humans also greatly inhibit the ability to know God. Romans 1:18-26

4. 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 belon to us and to our chihldren forever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deut. 29:29)

Implications of God's Incomprehensibility - since we can never fully understand God, we should be deeply humbled by the process of trying - realizing more and more the extent of our fallen nature while seeing the incomprehensible holiness of God's. The "appropriate response to God is a heart of wonder and awe in light of his incomprehensible greatness."

The Knowability of God - six key points. Our knowledge of God:

1. while God is incomprehensible, it shouldn't lead to apathy or despair. The Bible is also clear that God is fully knowable. "He can be known truly, personally, and sufficiently." Our spiritual growth depends on our knowledge of God:

²Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. ³His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Pet. 1:2-3)

2. Knowledge of God in Christ should be our greatest delight (Jer. 9:23-24; 1 Cor. 2:2; Gal. 6:14)
3. It is the basis of attaining eternal life (John 17:3)
4. It is at the heart of life in the new covenant (Heb 8:11-12)
5. It was Paul's primary goal (Phil 3:10)
6. It leads to Godly love (1 John 4:7-8)

Implications of the Knowability of God - "God's personal and sufficent revelation of himself should foster solid conviction among believers." Most of the rising influence of religions and postmodern views nowadays likes to say that God is so incomprehensible that he is unknowable. "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."
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now go learn what you can about God and rejoice in his incomprehensible nature!!