(the picture in the video is from Tim Challies)
D.
Infinity
1. Definition
a. God is
free from all limitations in His being and perfections
2. Scriptural Data
a. Job 11:7-9: “Can you find out the deep things of
God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven—what
can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Its measure is longer than the
earth and broader than the sea.
3. Consideration and
Reflection
a. God is
not limited by time or space
b.
God’s infinity is qualitative, not quantitative
i. infinite power is not an absolute measure, but an
exhaustless potency of power
ii. does not mean God is an infinite set of things
4. Practical Application
a. Infinity
implies 4 other attributes
i.
Simplicity or Unity
ii.
Eternity
iii.
Omnipresence and Immensity
E. Simplicity or Unity
1. Definition
a. God is
not composite and is not susceptible of division; i.e. not complex
i. Unity of singularity: This attribute stresses both the oneness and the
unicity of God, the fact that He is numerically one and that as such He is
unique. It implies that there is but one Divine Being, that from the nature of
the case there can be but one, and that all other beings exist of and through
and unto Him.
ii. Unity of simplicity: While the unity discussed in the preceding sets God
apart from other beings, the perfection now under consideration is expressive
of the inner and qualitative unity of the Divine Being. When we speak of the
simplicity of God, we use the term to describe the state or quality of being
simple, the condition of being free from division into parts, and therefore
from compositeness. (Louis Berkhof, Systematic
Theology, pg. 61-62)
2. Scriptural Data
a. Deuteronomy 6:4: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God,
the Lord is one.
i.
Could also be translated as: The Lord our God is one Lord.
b. John 4:24: God is spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in spirit and truth.
c. 1 John 1:5: This is the message we have heard from
him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
d. 1 John 4:8: Anyone who does not love does not know
God, because God is love.
3. Consideration and
Reflection
a. The 3
persons of the Trinity are not 3 parts of the Godhead
i.
They are all the one being we call God
ii.
They all share the same essence
b. There is
nothing forming God like He is forming us
i.
Think back to necessity; God is sustaining us as we speak (Job)
ii.
He is keeping together our spirit and body
iii. That makes us a compound being; the opposite of
God (see Jn 4:24 above)
c. Since God
is not a compound, His attributes are…
i.
not a collection added together
ii.
not additions to His essence
iii. He does not have light or have love; He is light
and is love (see 1 John 1:5 and 4:8 above)
iv. God’s whole being includes all of His attributes
4. Practical Application
a. Why then does Scripture speak of these different
attributes of God? It is probably because we are unable to grasp all of God’s
character at one time, and we need to learn of it from different perspectives
over a period of time. Yet these perspectives should never be set in opposition
to one another, for they are just different ways of looking at the totality of
God’s character.
In terms of practical application, this means that we
should never think, for example, that God is a loving God at one point in
history and a just or wrathful God at another point in history. He is the same
God always, and everything he says or does is fully consistent with all his
attributes. It is not accurate to say, as some have said, that God is a God of
justice in the Old Testament and a God of love in the New Testament. God is and
always has been infinitely just and infinitely loving as well, and everything
he does in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament is completely
consistent with both of those attributes.
Now it is true that some actions of God show certain
of his attributes more prominently. Creation demonstrates his power and wisdom,
the atonement demonstrates his love and justice, and the radiance of heaven
demonstrates his glory and beauty. But all of these in some way or other also demonstrate his knowledge and
holiness and mercy and truthfulness and patience and sovereignty, and so forth.
It would be difficult indeed to find some attribute of God that is not
reflected at least to some degree in any one of his acts of redemption. This is
due to the fact mentioned above: God is a unity and everything he does is an
act of the whole person of God.
Moreover, the doctrine of the unity of God should
caution us against attempting to single out any one attribute of God as more
important than all the others. At various times people have attempted to see
God’s holiness, or his love, or his self-existence, or his righteousness, or
some other attribute as the most important attribute of his being. But all such
attempts seem to misconceive of God as a combination of various parts, with
some parts being somehow larger or more influential than others. Furthermore,
it is hard to understand exactly what “most important” might mean. Does it mean
that there are some actions of God that are not fully consistent with some of
his other attributes? That there are some attributes that God somehow sets aside
at times in order to act in ways slightly contrary to those attributes?
Certainly we cannot maintain either of these views, for that would mean that
God is inconsistent with his own character or that he changes and becomes
something different from what he was previously. Rather, when we see all the
attributes as merely various aspects of the total character of God, then such a
question becomes quite unnecessary and we discover that there is no attribute
that can be singled out as more important. It is God himself in his whole
being who is supremely important, and it is God himself in his whole being
whom we are to seek to know and to love. (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, pg. 180-181)
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