Knowing the Unknowable God Knowledge of God begins by accepting its limits.

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1 Knowledge of God begins by accepting its limits. Though God made us in his image, we cannot fully grasp his infinite nature. In order to better know God, we must take a close look at what the Bible does and does not tell us about the Creator of the universe. Scripture Focus: Matthew 5:1-12, Malachi 3:1-5, 2 Corinthians 3:7-18, Job 37:14-24 Preparation Prior to Class Make a copy of the complete Bible study for each participant. Ask participants to read the article at the end of the study before class. The leader should read through each part, paying attention to any Leader s Notes and to check if extra materials or tools are needed. Study Outline PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 Identify the Current Issue Background information on the current issue is read aloud by the leader or participant. Discussion Starter questions encourage conversation. (It is not necessary to address every question.) Discover the Eternal Principles Scripture helps the group reflect biblically and theologically on the current issue. Teaching Points focus on different Scripture passages, each point concluding with a set of questions. Apply Your Findings An activity or additional questions help make practical the ideas just discussed. ARTICLE HANDOUT Reveling in the Mystery, by D. H. Williams, Christianity Today.

2 PART 1 Identify the Current Issue The modern mindset wants to define truth and certainty in quantifiable terms. We want to break down every object: to observe, to identify, to explain, and to know. Two plus two equals four. Water is made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. If we don t have an answer for every question, we find the fault in our own understanding. But when we think of God in this way, we risk creating him in our image. In the article, Reveling in the Mystery, D. H. Williams contends that we must maintain a balance between knowledge of God and the unknowable God if we are to know him at all. And we can do this by studying what the Bible does and does not tell us about God s infinite nature. Discussion Starters: Describe an experience that has expanded your view of God, e.g., the description of Westminster Abbey at the beginning of the article. How did this experience allow you to interact with the mystery of God? How did it help you to know him better? Is the impulse to want to know God a good thing? How might we unwittingly make God in our image? PART 2 Discover the Eternal Principles Teaching point 1: In order to know God, we must first be pure. Read Matthew 5:1-12. In order to know God, we must first be prepared to receive him. Matthew 5:8 says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. This passage establishes a clear formula for the Christian life: let go of the things the world values, and pursue instead the things of God. But how do we become pure in heart? Read Malachi 3:1-5. The idea of purity suggests something that is made up of only one substance for example, pure gold. But it takes work to get the metal into that form; it must be refined by fire, which separates out the imperfections. The Malachi passage uses this metaphor to describe our path to righteousness. When we have been purified by God himself, we become, as Williams puts it, a worthy receptacle that can hold such knowledge. What does it mean to be pure in heart? How can we pursue this? Why do we need to be pure in order to see God? (See Malachi 3:2.) What are some things that distract you from seeing God? 2

3 PART 2 Discover the Eternal Principles (cont.) Teaching point 2: In order to know God, we must seek him without end. Read 2 Corinthians 3:7-18. Williams describes a darkness into which we must enter if we wish to see God. This darkness, he says, resembles the depths of the ocean; when we are in it, our imaginations expand infinitely outward. Similarly, this passage describes God s glory as never-ending. We will never understand it, see it, or reflect it fully, because it has no boundaries. When we set out to know God, we want to do just that. The word know implies a sense of certainty. But we cannot know God in the same way we know that two plus two equals four. All knowledge of God must begin with the idea that we cannot fully grasp his infinite nature, and that this is okay. Rather, when we seek God without end, we allow his infinite glory to transform us into his image. What is the ministry that brought death (v. 7)? In what ways is it different from the ministry of the Spirit? What is it that we see more clearly in this new ministry? How do we have access to it? In what ways is our vision still limited? What does it look like to seek God without end in your personal relationship with Christ? Teaching point 3: In order to know God, we must study his actions. Read Job 37: The Bible lists some of God s qualities: he is loving (1 John 4:7-8), he is true (Titus 1:2), he is holy and righteous and just (Psalm 145:17). But, because he is infinite, he is infinitely each of these things. We cannot fully wrap our minds around what this really means. It is through God s actions, as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that we can truly begin to see who he is. In this passage, we see that God s actions provide a glimpse of what it means to be allpowerful, all-loving, and all-just. After Job tries to push the blame for his misfortunes to God, Elihu challenges him to consider the things God has done. Then, in chapters 38-42, God himself lists the ways in which his actions demonstrate his divine nature. If we describe a friend as loving or just, how is this different from the way God is loving or just? How does this passage use God s actions to respond to Job s charge against God in Job 31:35-40? Why must we study God s actions in order to know him better? Why is it not enough to simply list his qualities? 3

4 Living in a Culture of Sexual Immorality PART 3 Apply Your Findings How might you pursue experiences that will expand your view of God? When have you been guilty of making God in your own image? How have you seen this happen in the church? How can you identify and correct this tendency as it happens? Study prepared by Laura Leonard, Christianity Today magazine 4

5 Reveling in the Mystery Sometimes in order to see God, we have to learn to not know him. By D. H. Williams Westminster Abbey in London is one of the few places in the world that doesn t disappoint. The main part of Westminster is the cathedral: an enormous, basilica-style monastery of Gothic architecture that leaves one with a breathtaking vision of the height and depth of, if not God, at least of the worshipers concept of God. With the sheer amount of space between the floor and soaring vaults, from the back of the nave to the altar, as well as the complicated artistry on every wall and window, you find yourself awed by everything that speaks of the unimaginable greatness of God. You have a peculiar sense that God is very present and yet not altogether accessible. This is not an unpleasant experience; on the contrary, you realize that your idea of God has probably been too domesticated and confined. We might refer to such an experience as mystical, although the term is commonly associated in the Western mind as highly subjective and something meant for only the few. This is, however, a stunted definition. In ancient Christian theology, mystical refers to the wonder of the Christian mystery, the fulfilling of the Father s plan of redemption in Christ, which Paul refers to as the mystery (1 Tim. 3:16). Mystical also applied to a number of central elements of our worship of God. Ambrose of Milan, the 4th-century bishop, declared that our very faith is the mystery of the Trinity, as is the Lord s Supper and our Lord s baptism, which is our own baptism. John Cassian taught that Scripture too contains the mystery in the form of words, which describe the works of God that are disclosed to human minds only by grace. Because God himself is mystery, we should expect to find throughout the divine text depths and hidden realities that exceed our knowledge. None of these mysteries should be regarded as problems. The distance between creature and Creator is not something to be overcome or removed as if it were an obstacle to one s growth in the Christian life. In fact, many of the earliest Christians (especially Greek Christians in the 4th and 5 th centuries) contended that the way of spirituality is traversed by entering into a wonderful darkness that is everlasting and infinite. Paradoxically, only as the darkness grows will our knowledge of God grow. Moses Blueprint Christians seem caught in a crossfire between the God who is incomprehensible and the God who has revealed himself. On one hand, the apostle Paul prays for believers that... the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better (Eph. 1:17). Likewise, the Gospel of John places a strong emphasis on why Christ has revealed the Father:... that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father (10:38). No one has ever seen God, says the introduction to the Gospel, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father s side, has made him known (John 1:18). At the same time, the church has always recited these words of the psalmist [Your] knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain (Ps. 139:6; cf. Job 36:26) and these of Paul: Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? (Rom. 11:33 34). Like many important points of theology, the knowledge of God and the unknowable God has produced a balancing act that historic Christianity has sought to preserve. As a result, Christianity has struggled since the 3rd century to avoid what theologian Jaroslav Pelikan called a tyranny of epistemology in its understanding of God and God s revelation to us. Simply put, this tyranny occurs when Christians think of God as a great field of investigation, a problem to be solved. Ephrem the Syrian, a poet from the 4th century, spoke to this struggle when he wrote: Let us not allow ourselves to go astray and to study our God. Let us take the measure of our mind, and gauge our thinking. And as for our knowledge, let us know how small it is, and Too contemptible to scrutinize the Knower of all. In a fascinating, little-known book titled The Life of Moses, Gregory of Nyssa attempts to present an anatomy of Christian spirituality, which he says is a movement from light to darkness. Gregory was a late-4th-century theologian best known for his biblical commentaries and his defense of Nicene orthodoxy. As a 7

6 Reveling in the Mystery by D. H. Williams (cont.) theologian, he was very aware of those in his day who claimed to have a rational knowledge of God that violated the very essence of God. Such people asserted that if you knew descriptions for God s essence, you could intellectually grasp the being of the Divine. In response, Gregory wrote, How can our mind, which always operates on a dimensional image, comprehend a nature that has no dimension? His Life of Moses is a commentary on the Book of Exodus, chapters 1 20, with a special focus on how Moses was changed from an Egyptian secular ruler to God s exemplar of virtue. Like many during his era, Gregory fully embraced the notion that the only way to the virtuous life was by imitating great holy men in the Old Testament and in the Christian past. For Gregory, the stages in Moses life that led him to the top of Mount Sinai provided a blueprint for how the soul was mystically transformed into the likeness of God. This meant beautifying one s own soul with what is incorruptible, unchangeable, and shares in no evil at all. Stages in the Christian Journey As Moses went through stages in his ascent to God, so must we. The first stage Gregory calls the way of light. This involves our detachment from the love of things and the purification of the soul. One of the hallmarks of early Christians spirituality is that they took the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 very seriously, especially the one that says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (v. 8). Only by purifying ourselves can we become recipients of divine knowledge. Gregory s expression may be foreign to us, but we would do well to think of acquiring knowledge about God not through purely rational means as Protestants are wont to do, but by making ourselves a worthy receptacle that can hold such knowledge. The second stage is illumination, characterized by an awareness of moving from the sensible to invisible realities. One would think that Gregory means progression to greater clarity; however, this is the stage of Moses journey when he entered the cloud. If you have ever been in a thick fog, you ll know that it dampens all sights and sounds around you. The cloud blocks all outward appearances, compelling and accustoming the soul to look within. Here we find the image of God and thereby a knowledge of God. But we must not confuse this knowledge of God with knowledge of God as he is. There is only an awareness of God s presence. The third stage comes from Exodus 20:21, which depicts Moses entering the darkness and seeing God in it:... Moses approached the thick darkness where God was. What can this mean? In Gregory s words, Moses vision of God began with light; afterwards God spoke to him in a cloud. But when Moses climbed higher and became more perfected, he saw God in the darkness. Drawing on the language of paradox, Moses is said to have seen God, but not with his eyes, because that which is sought transcends all knowledge, being separated on all sides by incomprehensibility like a kind of darkness. In other words, God cannot be seen by virtue of who he is, just as John 1:18 states, no one has ever seen God. The term darkness takes on new meaning, not as mere blackness but rather the kind of darkness you experience when you go deep down into the ocean or high enough in the sky that you leave the atmosphere. This darkness expresses that the divine nature remains inaccessible because God is infinite; that is, there is no bottom to or end of his being. A writer known to us as Pseudo-Dionysius expresses the wonder of God s depth when he writes, Trinity! Higher than any being... Where the mysteries of God s Logos / Lie simple, absolute, and unchangeable / In the brilliant darkness of a hidden silence. It should be obvious, then, that no finite mind can plumb the depths of God. As Gregory puts it, How can one arrive at the boundary sought for when there is no boundary? This is the kind of effect the Westminster Abbey can have on the worshiper. Here is where Gregory of Nyssa makes his most noteworthy contribution to Christian theology: that the Christian life must first be defined by seeking God without end, and that true satisfaction of the soul s desire consists in constantly going on with this quest and never ceasing in the ascent to God. This is a joyful conclusion, since it ensures that one can always progress in holiness because spiritual progress is one of infinite growth. For the Platonist, all change is regarded as a defect or loss; in Gregory s system, the process of changing may be redeemed by perpetual growth in the good. It is this sort of movement that describes our transformation from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18, ESV). However much the Christian is transformed into the likeness of God, God remains ever beyond, so that the soul must always push forward in Cor. 3:18, ESV). However much the Christian is transformed into the likeness of God, God remains ever beyond, so that the soul must always push forward in anticipation in this life and in the one to come. Virtue in Darkness How, then, is this last stage of darkness useful for 6

7 Reveling in the Mystery by D. H. Williams (cont.) developing virtue? The discovery that drawing nearer to God is a movement into eternal darkness might not sound like good news; in fact, it may be terrifying. Yet there are two approaches to pursuing virtue that we can take following the example of Moses quest. The first relates to the Divine Being. Moses learns of the things that must be known about God namely, that none of the things learned by human comprehension can be ascribed to him. Theologians call this kind of knowledge apophatic theology. Our knowing of God consists of what he is not. This has been a special theme of Eastern theologians going back to Origen of the 3rd century. One certainty of an authentic knowledge of God is how imperfectly we know him. Second, we must pursue the virtuous life. It begins by emulating those whom God has used to fulfill his purposes of good. This notion dates back to Plato and Plutarch, who wrote of the many lives of great men worthy of admiration and imitation. In this same vein, the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca wrote, Plato, Aristotle, and the whole throng of sages... derived more benefit from the character of Socrates than from his words. A similar emphasis is found in the Bible: Job is an example of steadfastness (James 5:11, ESV); Abraham a model of faith (Heb. 11:11); Jesus sometimes ended his parables with the words, Go and do likewise (cf. Luke 10:37); and Paul encouraged the Corinthian Christians to be imitators of me (1 Cor. 4:16, ESV). We likewise find this pattern expressed in the early church, in texts such as The Life of Cyprian and especially the famous Life of Antony. You can t teach virtue by means of words. As Palladius wrote at the beginning of his history about distinguished male and female ascetics, Teaching consists of virtuous acts of conduct: cheerfulness, courageousness, bravery, goodness... which generates words like a flame of fire. There was nothing at all abstract about virtue, being found in living examples. Only in this way can we begin the task of moral instruction and spiritual progress. One primary result of virtue is that of seeing God. Again we remember the beatitude, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Just as the twin notions of knowing God and the unknowable God cannot be separated, we find the same paradox here. Christians are destined to see the living God who cannot be seen. At one point in Exodus, God says to Moses, no one may see me and live (33:20). Mystical understanding works like this: It s always a mixture of knowledge and ignorance, possession and quest, immanence and transcendence. So, how is it possible to see God? Again we turn to Gregory, who speaks of Moses atop Mount Sinai: His eyes sharply penetrated the divine darkness and in this way, he was able to contemplate the invisible. The divine darkness is not the kind of blackness we experience stumbling into an underground room with no lights. This darkness is a positive reality that helps us to discover God, and hence is called luminous. Although it sounds like a contradiction in terms, a luminous darkness is one filled with God s presence, and by faith, the soul can begin to perceive God in darkness. In fact, the closer that God comes to the soul, the more intense the darkness becomes; it is then that all other things of this world are cleared away. The soul looks up to the Lord and never ceases to desire him. The emphasis in this kind of spirituality falls on seeing rather than knowing. What we discover, in the end, is that the intellect in itself can never lead anyone to the virtues of the soul. Mere rational knowledge even about God does not provide growth or movement toward sharing in the life of God. Some scholars have suggested that Protestantism is built on a Gnostic scheme of a knowledge that saves. This is too extreme. Yet Protestant Christianity s special emphasis on knowing God and God s revelation in a very cognitive sense suggests that its spirituality is too closely tied to a way of knowing God that is best represented by the fact that the sermon, not the liturgy, stands at the center of most Protestant worship services. A balance between knowledge of God and the unknowable God must be preserved, lest we remake God in our own image, according to our conceptions. Gregory s warning to Christians of his time is a timeless wisdom: When we question God in terms of his being, then it is time to keep silent (as Job was told to do in chapters 38 42); when it is a question of what God does (his actions), then it s time to speak and use words to tell of his deeds. Ancient writers like Gregory remind us that the door to joyful mystery must be opened. Knowledge, even the knowledge that comes from Scripture, is not undermined but humbled, as it is placed before the vast depths of God. Because God is eternal and infinite, there will never come a time when we ve exhausted all that God has to give us; we ll never plumb the depths of the Almighty, but will always find ourselves going deeper in and higher up. D. H. Williams is professor of patristics and historical theology at Baylor University. 7