Question and Answer: How can finite beings understand the infinite God?

I wanted to clarify something I said based on a few questions I received after the sermon this past Sunday. The claim Christians make, based on what has been given to us in scripture, is that God is fully and completely revealed to us in Jesus Christ. The book we are presently studying, Colossians, makes that abundantly clear both in chapter 1:15-20

”[15] He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. [16] For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. [17] And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [18] And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. [19] For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, [20] and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
(Colossians 1:15-20)

And in chapter 2:9-10:

“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, [10] and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.”
(Colossians 2:9-10)

So we can say with absolute certainty that in Christ we are given the entirety of God—all that God is we see in Jesus Christ.

Does this mean that we are capable of knowing all that there is to know about God?

No. Never. Not even in heaven. Because we are finite beings and God is infinite, we will never plumb the depths of his being. Indeed the greatest joy of heaven will be coming to know Christ in a deeper and more profound way moment by moment for all eternity.

So while the entirety of God, the fullness of God, has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ, we do not claim to be able to understand the entirety of his being and nature.

We can, however, grasp and are responsible in all humility to seek to understand and hold as true what he teaches us about himself in the bible. He does not tell us everything about himself in scripture but what he does tell us is knowable and true.

This is a crucial point because while Christians do not claim to know all that there is to know about God, we do claim to know, with certainty, that Jesus Christ is the only one in whom and through whom creatures may have access to the Creator.

Many respond to that claim by asking: Since you acknowledge that you don’t know all that there is to know about God, how do you know that there is not another way, another path, another truth through which or whom God reveals himself apart from Christ?

The answer: Because what God has told us about himself in scripture is true, we can be certain that what remains unknown will not contradict what has been revealed. To say otherwise is to suggest that God has deceived us—that what he has breathed out through the prophets and apostles will be falsified by what he has not caused to be written—a proposition few would will be willing to make.

Among those things that God has told us about himself is that in Christ alone the fullness of the diety dwells in bodily form (Col 2:9) and in him alone human beings find access to the Father.

“Jesus said…‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’” (John 14:6-7)

All other ways of approaching God, all other faiths and religions, while certainly possessing aspects of the truth, err so significantly that salvation is impossible through them. The New Testament, in fact, tells us that “pagan” or non-Christian faiths find their origin with demons. Paul makes that startling claim while warning believers not to worship in temples or places of worship devoted to any God other than the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ:

I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. [21] You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. [22] Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? (1 Corinthians 10:20-22)

Not only is Christ the only way to the Father, but any other religion, philosophy and/or tradition that purports to be an alternate rout is counterfeit—a deception, an admixture of truth and falsehood intended to draw us away from the light and into the darkness.

So in sum: God is revealed fully in Jesus Christ. Christians do not claim the capacity to understand the fullness of Christ. But we do claim that what God has revealed about himself through Christ in the scriptures is knowable and true. And therefore we claim that what is revealed in scripture will not contradict what remains hidden within God’s nature and character.

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