The Knowledge of the Holy

1. Right Thinking About God Shapes Our Lives

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

Our view of God matters. Our perception of God profoundly influences our spiritual journey and moral compass. A diminished view of God leads to a diminished spiritual life, while a majestic view inspires reverence and worship.

Impact on worship and ethics. The quality of our worship and the soundness of our ethics are directly tied to our understanding of God. An erroneous or inadequate idea of God inevitably leads to errors in doctrine and failures in Christian living.

• A high view of God cultivates awe and reverence.
• A low view of God breeds complacency and moral laxity.

The need for correction. The prevailing Christian conception of God in modern times is often too low, unworthy of the Most High, and a moral calamity. Purifying and elevating our concept of God is essential for spiritual power and a vibrant church.

2. God's Incomprehensibility Calls for Awe

In Thy Presence silence best becomes us, but love inflames our hearts and constrains us to speak.

Limits of human understanding. God's nature is ultimately beyond human comprehension. Our minds, being finite and created, cannot fully grasp the infinite and uncreated God.

Using analogies with caution. When we try to imagine God, we inevitably use earthly concepts as a starting point. However, we must be careful not to equate these analogies with the reality of God, lest we create an idol of our own making.

• Ezekiel's visions of God used "likeness" and "appearance" to describe the indescribable.
• The Bible states that man was made in the image of God, but not in the exact image.

Knowing through faith and love. While God's essence remains a mystery, He reveals Himself through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Faith and love, rather than reason alone, are the means by which we can intimately know God.

3. Divine Attributes Reveal God's Nature

By it is meant simply whatever may be correctly ascribed to God.

Attributes as God's self-revelation. Divine attributes are not mere qualities or characteristics, but rather aspects of God's being that He has revealed to us. They are how God is, and as far as the reasoning mind can go, we may say that it is what God is.

Seeking answers in humility. Questions about God's nature are not merely academic but touch the depths of the human spirit. When asked in reverence and sought in humility, these questions please God and lead to a deeper understanding of Him.

• Answers are found in nature, Scripture, and the person of Jesus Christ.
• Answers must be sought through prayer, meditation, and disciplined study.

Rejecting creature-thoughts. To think accurately about God, we must avoid using words and concepts that are appropriate for created beings but not for the Creator. God is not a sum of parts or traits, but a simple, indivisible unity.

4. The Trinity: Unity in Divine Persons

In this Trinity, nothing is before or after, nothing is greater or less: but all three Persons coeternal, together and equal.

A mystery to embrace. The doctrine of the Trinity—one God in three Persons—is a profound mystery that transcends human understanding. It is a truth to be confessed by faith, not dissected by reason.

Scriptural basis. The Scriptures teach the distinctness of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, while also affirming their unity as one God. Christ used the plural form when speaking of Himself along with the Father and the Spirit.

• "We will come unto him and make our abode with him."
• "I and my Father are one."

Harmonious cooperation. The Persons of the Godhead, being one, have one will. They work always together, and never one smallest act is done by one without the instant acquiescence of the other two. Every act of God is accomplished by the Trinity in Unity.

5. God's Self-Existence Defines His Being

God has no origin.

No cause or source. God's self-existence means that He is not dependent on anything or anyone for His being. He is the uncaused Cause, the One who has always existed and will always exist.

Distinguishing God from creation. Origin is a word that can apply only to things created. When we think of anything that has origin we are not thinking of God. God is self-existent, while all created things necessarily originated somewhere at some time.

Practical implications. Understanding God's self-existence is essential for a sound philosophy of life. It reminds us that we are dependent on Him for our very being and that all our problems and solutions are ultimately theological.

6. God's Self-Sufficiency Frees Us

Teach us, O God, that nothing is necessary to Thee.

No needs or deficiencies. God's self-sufficiency means that He lacks nothing and needs nothing from His creation. He is complete and perfect in Himself.

Reversing our thinking. We must reverse our natural tendency to think of God as needing our help or approval. God does not need our worship, our service, or our gifts.

• God's interest in His creatures arises from His sovereign good pleasure, not from any need those creatures can supply.
• God is not greater for our being, nor would He be less if we did not exist.

Empowering Christian activity. The truth of God's self-sufficiency should not paralyze Christian activity but rather stimulate it. Knowing that God works through us by His Spirit, we can labor with confidence and joy for His glory and the good of mankind.

7. God's Eternity Transcends Time

From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Beyond beginning and end. God's eternity means that He exists outside of time, with no beginning and no end. He is the Ancient of Days, who was, is, and is to come.

Living in an everlasting now. Because God lives in an everlasting now, He has no past and no future. Time is a creation of God, and it exists within Him, not the other way around.

• Time marks the beginning of created existence, and because God never began to exist it can have no application to Him.
• God dwells in eternity but time dwells in God.

Practical application. Meditating on God's eternity can bring perspective and peace to our lives. It reminds us that we are made for eternity and that our time on earth is fleeting.

8. God's Infinitude Defies Limits

Of all that can be thought or said about God, His Infinitude is the most difficult to grasp.

Limitless being. God's infinitude means that He knows no bounds or limitations. Whatever God is, and all that God is, He is without limit.

Beyond measurement. Measurement is the way created things account for themselves. It describes limitations, imperfections, and cannot apply to God.

• Weight describes the gravitational pull of the earth upon material bodies; distance describes intervals between bodies in space; length means extension in space.
• We cannot speak of measure or amount or size or weight and at the same time be speaking of God, for these tell of degrees and there are no degrees in God.

Infinite gifts. Because God's nature is infinite, everything that flows out of it is infinite also. This includes His mercy, His love, and the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus.

9. God's Immutability Offers Stability

I am the Lord, I change not.

Unchanging nature. God's immutability means that He never changes or varies from Himself. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Moral and essential consistency. God cannot change for the better or for the worse. His perfections forever rule out any such possibility.

• As there can be no mutation in the moral character of God, so there can be none within the divine essence.
• The being of God is unique in the only proper meaning of that word; that is, His being is other than and different from all other beings.

Anchor in a changing world. In a world of constant change and decay, God's immutability provides a source of stability and hope. We can trust that His promises will never fail and that His love will never waver.

10. God's Omniscience Encompasses All

God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind, all spirit and all spirits, all being and every being, all creaturehood and all creatures, every plurality and all pluralities, all law and every law, all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feeling, all desires, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven, and hell.

Perfect and complete knowledge. God's omniscience means that He possesses perfect knowledge of all things, past, present, and future. He knows everything that can be known.

No learning or surprise. God has never learned from anyone and cannot learn. He knows all things instantly and effortlessly, without discovery or surprise.

• Because God knows all things perfectly, He knows no thing better than any other thing, but all things equally well.
• He is never surprised, never amazed.

Comfort and terror. The knowledge of God's omniscience can be both comforting and terrifying. It is comforting to know that He understands us completely, but it is also frightening to realize that nothing is hidden from Him.

11. God's Wisdom Guides His Actions

Wisdom, among other things, is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve those ends by the most perfect means.

Perfect ends and means. God's wisdom is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve those ends by the most perfect means. It sees the end from the beginning, so there can be no need to guess or conjecture.

Moral connotation. Wisdom, when used of God and good men, always carries a strong moral connotation. It is conceived as being pure, loving, and good.

• All God’s acts are done in perfect wisdom, first for His own glory, and then for the highest good of the greatest number for the longest time.
• Not only could His acts not be better done: a better way to do them could not be imagined.

Trusting in the dark. Even when we cannot understand God's ways, we can trust that He is acting in perfect wisdom. We can surrender our own understanding and rely on His guidance.

12. God's Holiness Demands Reverence

Holy is the way God is.

Unique and unapproachable. God's holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable.

Moral standard. God is holy and He has made holiness the moral condition necessary to the health of His universe. Sin's temporary presence in the world only accents this.

• Whatever is holy is healthy; evil is a moral sickness that must end ultimately in death.
• The formation of the language itself suggests that health and holiness are associated.

Transformation through encounter. A vision of God's holiness leads to a profound sense of our own sinfulness and a desire for transformation. It inspires reverence, awe, and a commitment to living a life that is pleasing to Him.

Last updated: April 4, 2025