THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD-
Intellectually, God is Omniscient, Faithful, and Wise
God differs from other spirits not only in being but also in knowledge. His intellectual capabilities are unlimited, and He uses them fully and perfectly.
God is omniscient. God knows all things (1 John 3:20). Jesus has this attribute of deity also, for Peter says, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You” (John 21:17). God knows all inward thoughts and outward acts of humanity (Psalm 139). “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). Isaiah distinguished the Lord of all from idols by the Lord’s ability to predict the future (Isaiah 44:7-8, 25-28). Clearly the Lord’s knowledge of the future was communicable in human concepts and words. In the context of Isaiah He made predictions concerning Jerusalem, Judah, Cyrus, and the temple. These concepts were inspired in the original language and are translatable in the languages of the world.
Intellectually, God is Omniscient, Faithful, and Wise
God differs from other spirits not only in being but also in knowledge. His intellectual capabilities are unlimited, and He uses them fully and perfectly.
God is omniscient. God knows all things (1 John 3:20). Jesus has this attribute of deity also, for Peter says, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You” (John 21:17). God knows all inward thoughts and outward acts of humanity (Psalm 139). “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). Isaiah distinguished the Lord of all from idols by the Lord’s ability to predict the future (Isaiah 44:7-8, 25-28). Clearly the Lord’s knowledge of the future was communicable in human concepts and words. In the context of Isaiah He made predictions concerning Jerusalem, Judah, Cyrus, and the temple. These concepts were inspired in the original language and are translatable in the languages of the world.
How can God know the end from the beginning? In a way greater than illustrated in a person’s knowledge of a memorized psalm, Augustine suggested. Before quoting Psalm 23 we have it all in mind. Then we quote the first half of it and we know the part that is past and the part that remains to be quoted. God knows the whole of history at once, simultaneously because He is not limited by time and succession, but God knows what part of history is past today and what is future, for time is not unreal or unimportant to Him (Confessions, XI.31).
The belief that God knows everything – past, present, and future – is of little significance, however, if His knowledge is removed from human knowledge by an infinite, qualitative distinction. The frequent claim that God’s knowledge is totally other than ours implies that His truth may be contradictory of our truth. That is, what may be true for us is false for God, or what is false for us may be true for God.
From a biblical perspective, however, the human mind has been created in the divine image to think God’s thoughts after Him, or to receive through both general and special revelation truth from Him. Although the fall has affected the human mind, this has not been eradicated. The new birth involves the Spirit’s renewal of the person in knowledge after the image of the Creator (Colossians 3:10). Contextually, the knowledge possible to the regenerate includes the present position and nature of the exalted Christ (1:15-20) and knowledge of God’s will (1:9). With this knowledge Christians can avoid being deceived by mere “fine-sounding arguments” (2:4). They are to strengthen the faith they were taught in concepts and words (2:7). And the content of the word of Christ can inform their teaching and worship (3:16).
In these and many other ways the Scriptures presuppose an informative revelation from God, verbally inspired and Spirit-illumined, to minds created and renewed in the divine image for the reception of this divine truth. Insofar as we have grasped the contextual meaning given by the original writers of Scripture, our scripturally-based assertions that God is spirit, God is holy, or God is love are true. They are true for God as He is in Himself. They are true for the faith and life of Christians and churches.
The propositional truth that the Bible conveys in indicative sentences that affirm, deny, contend, maintain, assume, and infer is fully true for God and for humankind. Of course God’s omniscience is not limited to the distinctions between subjects and predicates, logical sequence, exegetical research, or discursive reasoning. But God knows the difference between a subject and a predicate, relates to logical sequence as much as to temporal sequence, encourages exegetical research and revelationally based discursive reasoning. Although God’s mind is unlimited and knows everything, it is not totally different in every respect from human minds made in His image. As omniscient, then, God’s judgments are formed in the awareness of all the relevant data. God knows everything that bears upon the truth concerning any person or event. Our judgments are true insofar as they conform to God’s judgments by being coherent or faithful to all the relevant evidence.
God is faithful and true (Revelation 19:11); therefore, His judgments (19:2) and His words in human language are faithful and true (21:5; 22:6). There is not lack of fidelity in God’s person, thought, or promise. God is not hypocritical [or] inconsistent.
We may hold unswervingly to our hope because He who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23). He is faithful to forgive our sins (1 John 1:9), sanctify believers until the return of Christ (First Thessalonians 5:23-24), strengthen and protect from the evil one (2 Thessalonians 3:3), and not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). Even if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown Himself (2 Timothy 2:13).
Not one word of all the good promises God gave through Moses failed (1 Kings 8:56). Isaiah praises the name of God, for in perfect faithfulness God did marvelous things planned long ago (Isaiah 25:1). Passages like these convey a basic divine integrity in both life and thought. No contract can be drawn between what God is in Himself and what God is in relation to those who trust Him. He does not contradict His promises in His works or in other teaching by dialectic, paradox, or mere complementarity. He knows everything, and nothing can come up that was not already taken into account before He revealed His purposes.
Because God is faithful and consistent, we ought to be faithful and consistent. Jesus said, “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ be ‘No’” (Matthew 5:37). Paul exhibited this logical authenticity in his teaching. “As surely as God is faithful,” he said, “our message to you is not ‘Yes’ and ‘No’” (2 Corinthians 1:18). Those who imagine that talk about God in human language must affirm and deny the same thing at the same time and in the same respect (in dialectic or paradox) have a different view of the relation between the divine mind and the godly person’s mind than did Paul. Because God is faithful, we must be faithful in our message about Him. Since God cannot deny Himself, we ought not to deny ourselves in speaking to God.
Knowing the connection between personal and conceptual faithfulness in God, we know that the idea that faithful persons ought not to contradict themselves did not originate with Aristotle. He may have formulated the law of noncontradiction in a way that has been quoted ever since, but the ultimate source of the challenge to human fidelity in person and word is rooted in God Himself. The universal demand for intellectual honesty reflects in the human heart the ultimate integrity of the Creator’s heart.
God is not only omniscient and consistent in person and word, but also perfectly wise. In addition to knowing all relevant data on any subject, God selects ends with discernment and acts in harmony with His purposes of holy love. We may not always be able to see that events in our lives work together for a wise purpose, but we know that God chooses from among all possible alternatives the best ends and means for achieving them. God not only chooses the right ends but also for the right reasons, the good of His creatures and thus His glory.
Although we may not fully understand divine wisdom, we have good reason to trust it. After writing on the great gift of the righteousness that comes from God, Paul exclaims, “To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen” (Romans 16:27). He had earlier alluded to the incomprehensible depth of the riches of God’s wisdom and knowledge (11:33).
The interrelation of the attributes is already evident, as the divine omniscience is aware not only of what is but also of what ought to be (morally); divine faithfulness and consistency involve moral integrity and no hypocrisy; and wisdom makes decisions for action toward certain ends and means in terms of the highest values. It is not so strange then when we read that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7).
By Gordon R. Lewis from The Portable Seminary
-Mick
