In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).
The ancient theologian who first wrote these divinely inspired words made no attempt to explain the presence of God. From this simple sentence we can deduce two things about God. First, God exists outside of time, space and matter. Second, God created time, space, and matter. God is the uncreated Creator.
The Apostle Paul, a trained Jewish scholar who has been called the first Christian theologian, declared that God has revealed God’s self in creation. Paul wrote, “…that which is known about God is evident… For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made… (Romans 1:19-20; cf. Psalm 19:1; 97:6). Paul insists that humans can clearly perceive God even if God’s “invisible attributes” remain incomprehensible. To speak of God’s “eternal power and divine nature” is beyond human experience and capabilities. Even though humanity was created in the image of God, humans do not share God’s power or nature. That’s why we speak of the incommunicable attributes of God – those characteristics of the divine nature which cannot be shared. God is eternal, uncreated, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and immutable. To speak of the substance of God, that is, the stuff of which God is made, is to suggest an uncreated essence that exists without and beyond time, space, and matter. God is neither created matter (like humans), nor created spirit (like angels). God is uncreated spirit.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible mankind… (Romans 1:22–23).
The original sin of humanity is the desire to be like God, and to know like God (cf. Genesis 3:5-6; 11:4; Isaiah 14:13). In our desire to be godlike we become utterly foolish and seek to create a god as “an image in the form of corruptible mankind”. In our efforts to comprehend God, we create a divine caricature that corrupts the glory of God. God so jealousy guards the divine glory that the priestly people of Israel were prohibited from likening God to anything “in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth” (Exodus 20:4).
Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—there was only a voice… So be very careful yourselves, since you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, so that you do not act corruptly and make a carved image for yourselves in the form of any figure, a representation of male or female... (Deuteronomy 4:12, 15-16).
In other words, to attribute creaturely characteristics to the uncreated divine nature is idolatry.
Herein lies the problem. How can we talk about the incorruptible and incomprehensible God? We use anthropomorphic, theophanic, and phenomenological language. Anthropomorphic language attributes humanlike characteristics to God – to speak of seeing the face of God, or God extending his hand, or attributions of gender. Theophanic language is descriptive of how God is revealed in creation – light, thunder, fire, and wind. Phenomenological language is descriptive of how God’s actions might appear to the eye. For example, to speak of God walking (Genesis 3:8), of God riding the heavens (Psalm 68:33), or placing the stars in the heavens (Psalm 8:3). All talk about God requires using words and images as metaphors that signify much greater incommunicable attributes. To speak of the hand of God refers to God’s omnipotence. To speak of the face of God refers to God’s omnipresence. To speak of God as thunder and lightning refers to God’s glory.
With this in mind, the faithful reading of Scripture is not to insist that God has a literal and physical hand, or any other created characteristic that is subject to, or limited by time, space, and matter. In fact, a literal reading does exactly what Paul warned against. A literal reading exchanges “the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible” creation. A faithful reading of Scripture requires that we approach language about God with great humility, that we embrace God as the One “who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see” (1 Timothy 6:16).
So, if God is unapproachable and incomprehensible, how can we know God?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory (John 1:1, 14).
Jesus Christ is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his nature (Hebrews 1:3). The eternal Word of the Father, “emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7). Jesus Christ is one person with two natures, the union of uncreated God and created humanity. Jesus Christ is fully divine and fully human without compromising the integrity of either. He is the “image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9). Don’t miss this – the only way humans can fully see and know God is for God the Son to “empty Himself” and assume human nature. The Incarnation is the self-humiliation of God. It is also the glorification of humanity. Although humans will never share in the incommunicable attributes of God, we will indeed share in God’s communicable attributes (holiness, love, joy, eternal life) for “when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 Jn 3:2).
