The Incomprehensibility of God

Doesn’t it seem to us that God’s ways are strange? We simply cannot understand why He does what He does—or fails to do what we think He ought to do—in some situations.

Perhaps what is at the very heart of our issue here is the incomprehensibility of God:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-1)

Zophar got it right when he asked Job, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” (Job 11:7). The truth is that no created being can fully understand the mind of the Creator. No finite being can fully comprehend the Infinite.

On a recent program Dr. Erwin Lutzer gave an illustration of an ant walking across the surface of a painting. Would the ant be able to fully comprehend that painting? Of course not. It might (if ants can see color) be able to tell when it came to a different color; it would more than likely know that there were variations in the surface as it crossed the various brush strokes. But to know and understand the subject matter of the painting would be far, far beyond it.

English theologian John Owen put it this way:

“God, in his own essence, being, and existence, is absolutely incomprehensible. His nature being immense, and all his holy properties essentially infinite, no creature can directly or perfectly comprehend them, or any of them. He must be infinite that can perfectly comprehend that which is infinite; wherefore God is perfectly known unto himself only—but as for us, how little a portion is heard of him.”^[1]

The Bible gives frequent references to the incomprehensible nature of God. For example:

• Psalm 145:3 – Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.
• Job 26:14 – And these are but the outer fringes of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?
• Romans 11:33-34 - Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out. Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?
• 1 Corinthians 2:10-11 – …the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
• 1 Timothy 6:15-16 – God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see.

But there’s a flip side to this attribute of God: He wants to be known by us—to the extent that we are able to comprehend Him! God does reveal things about Himself to us. He has done so through what He has created (see, e.g., Psalm 90:1-4; Romans 1:19-20); He has done so by impressing His laws upon the human heart (see, e.g., Romans 2:14-15; Ecclesiastes 3:11); He has done so through His written word, the Bible (see, e.g., Luke 24:27, 44-45; John 5:39); and He has done so through His own Son, who came into the world to reveal Him to us. For example:

• “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son… the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…” (Hebrews 1:1-3).
• “The Son is the image of the invisible God…” (Colossians 1:15).
• “Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’ Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father’” (John 14:8-9).

Can we, the created, ever fully understand all there is to know of the Creator? No. That is far beyond our ability. However, as R.C. Sproul put it:

“In some sense, human beings are like God. That makes it possible for communication to occur. God has built this capacity for communication into creation. We are not God, but we are like Him because we bear His image and are made in His likeness. Therefore, God can reveal Himself to us, not in His language, but in our language. He can talk to us. He can communicate to us in a manner that we can understand—not exhaustively, but truly and meaningfully.”^[2]

James Sire makes the same point when he says, “God is a speaking God, one who chose to communicate with people. He speaks their language, too, for Moses [at the burning bush] had no difficulty understanding what God said.”^[3] The point is not whether God was speaking in Hebrew, or in some Egyptian language Moses might have learned in Pharaoh’s court. The point is that God spoke in words Moses fully understood.

And that leads to the final point. We have a responsibility to learn as much about God as He has revealed to us. Our primary source of this information is the Bible which He has given us through “prophets, [who] though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (1 Peter 1:21).

But be warned. James Dolezal writes:

“In Scripture it seems the more one contemplates God and grows in the knowledge of him, the more incomprehensible God appears.

“Psalm 139:1-6: ‘You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.’”^[4]

No, we will never know God exhaustively. But the more we do learn of Him the more we will love Him, and the more we will want to know of Him. It’s a lifetime endeavor well worth pursuing.

Endnotes

1. John Owen, “On the Person of Christ,” in The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 1 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2000), p. 65.↑
2. R.C. Sproul, “God is Incomprehensible,” https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/god-incomprehensible↑
3. James W. Sire, Beginning with God (InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition), p. 45.↑
4. James Dolezal, “Worshipping the Incomprehensible God,” https://www.alliancenet.org/placefortruth/worshipping-the-incomprehensible-god↑