Knowledge of God

We are limited creatures were finite.

So how can we know anything about an infinite God. God unfortunately does not speak to us in his language he speaks to us in hours, and because he speaks to us in the only language we can understand we are able to grasp them. We can't know everything about God, but we can certainly know everything we need to know about it and we can speak about them in ways that are meaningful and true welcome to Renewing Your Mind in a message and under RC's ProSeries foundations in the series. RC carefully examines the vital aspects of Christianity like the authority of Scripture. Salvation in today's message the knowledge of God when linear ministries began many many years ago we were visited by a man. His job was to be a consultant to various business and Christian ministries and that he is helping us to define our purpose and he said to Mason RC what is the single most important thing that this ministry is designed to do and I said that's easy is what I said to help people find out who God is and I was quick to add to it. Not that God is because as we've already seen in our study of general revelation God is plainly manifested his existence to every creature on this planet and everybody whether they acknowledge it or not, knows that God exists, but we need to come to a deeper understanding of who he is, what is his character. What is his nature because there's nothing in theology that defines everything else as comprehensively as our understanding of God. In fact, I will go so far society as as we understand the character of God, so we will understand every other doctrine in our thinking there that closely related. Now in the history of academic systematic theology it's customary that the first thing that you study or treat in theology proper or about the doctrine of God is the doctrine of what is called the incomprehensibility of God. Now that almost seems at the outset that you begin your study of God with a disclaimer saying what were going to start studying something we don't know anything about that. Not only do we not know a thing about it. We can't know anything about it because when we use the term in comprehensible in our customary forms of speech. What we mean is unintelligible on understandable's can't comprehend it. It's inconceivable.

So why even go any further in the study of theology for the very beginning.

You say that the doctrine of God is such that God himself is in comprehensible what. Here's one of those cases where a theological term is used in a more narrow and distinct and precise way that it is commonly used in everyday speech.

What in comprehensible means with respect to God is not that we can't do anything about it, but that our knowledge of God will always be limited that we can have an apprehensive knowledge of God, a meaningful knowledge of God. But we can never even in heaven have a knowledge of God, that totally exhaustively comprehends all that he is in this sense were talking about being comprehensive in terms of being total or complete in our understanding and so at the beginning we say that God is in comprehensible in the sense that none of us has or ever will have an exhaustive grasp of God by one of the reasons for that was articulated by John Calvin in a famous Latin phrase that he gave to the church and was used in two different arenas of theology and it is the phrase for any term long top box in Finley told, not even this Latin phrase to confuse the waters a little bit more can be interpreted to distinguish it says finite cannot something the infinite and the reason they can be translated into different ways is that this word called clocks can be translated into different ways. Those two different ways are this one. The finite cannot contain the infinite, that simple is not. If I had a glass that was an 8 ounce glass that glass could not possibly contain a million gallons of water or an infinite amount of water because it only has a finite volume to it and so the finite cannot contain the infinite, but another meaning of the word compacts is the word grasp and that is again to grasp in its completeness. So again, my mind is finite and my finite mind does not have the ability or the capacity to grasp all that God is is ways are not our ways know who can ascend into the heavens and bring God down and so on. His thoughts are not our thoughts. He surpasses our ability to comprehend him in his fullness. Now if that is the case and that the finite cannot grasp the infinite. How can we as human beings who are finite learn anything about God or have any significant or meaningful knowledge of who God is, again, I can refer to Calvin who says that part of the graciousness and the mercy of God is that God condescends and he, as it were lists for our benefit by addressing us on our terms and in our own language forms, just like a parent make clue when they talk to an infant. We call it baby talk, but something is communicated that is meaningful and intelligible and so the first thing we understand about our knowledge of God and about the language that the Bible uses about God is that that language is what is called and throw Paul more fake language and not let this big long word scarier because it includes within it. Words that you're very familiar with.

You heard of the term anthropology, which is the science or the study of human beings and anthropology is called anthropology because it comes from the word on throw posts which is the Greek word for man or man Or human and morphology is the study of forms and shapes that each of us has a distinctive physical form. There needs no more sin and remorse, stuff like that and we understand that there is a subdivision of science that is called morphology so anthropomorphic simply means in human form that we see this very simply. When God speaks to us in Scripture, and he says that the heavens or his throne and the earth is his footstool and we visualize or imagine in our minds. This massive deity who was seated in heaven and stretching out his feet on the earth which is used. This is footstool, or as his Ottoman but none of us. I hope really thinks that that's how God is God is often described with the use of physical descriptions. There are mentions of his eyes of his head of his strong right arm of his feet and off his mouth and so on. And yet at the same time, the Scriptures, and tell us that God is not a man that he is a spirit and he's not physical, and yet the Bible speaks of God in physical terms, and not only does it use human physical language to describe God.

It will even use physical emotional language in a safe God repented of doing something and then later on the scriptural remind us that God is not a man that he actually repents, but that they will describe God in human terms. In certain instances and narratives in the Bible because it's the only way we can speak about God say he he owns the cattle on a thousand hills. We interpret that to mean that God is the great cattle rancher in the sky comes down as a shoot out every now and then, at the okay corral with the devil.

No what that image communicates to us is that God is powerful is wealthy be self-sufficient like a rancher would be on earth who owned the cattle on a thousand hills. So we use anthropomorphic language. The Bible uses anthropomorphic language or human language to speak about God and we have to be very careful as the Bible is when the Bible will, on the one hand, affirm what it says about God using these forms and then later on in the more abstract didactic way warn us that God is not a man now. Sometimes we think that when we go into abstract technical theological language we escape anthropomorphic language. Instead of saying that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, I might say that God is omnipotent. As of now I have a fancy word here and abstract term meaning on the all potent, powerful, and I think maybe because now I have a more sophisticated abstract technical word. I've now gone above and beyond the realm of the human no silly only way I can understand the word on the or all this by my reference point is a human being to understand what all means when I look at the people in this room say all the people here in this room or my understanding of power because I don't have the mind of God. I don't conceive of power in the same way God conceives he has an infinite understanding of power. I have a finite understanding and God unfortunately does not speak to us in his language he speaks to us in hours, and because he speaks to us in the only language we can understand we are able to grasp them. In other words, all biblical languages anthropomorphic and all language about God is anthropomorphic because the only language we have at our disposal is anthropomorphic language because we are on's report. We are human beings, not because of these limits imposed by the difference. The gulf between the infinite God, and finite human beings. The church has had to be careful in defining different ways in which we describe God and I will mention a few of those now one of the most common ways in theology that we speak about God or describe God is by what is called the via the Grazie on this in the via if you've ever been to Europe or to Italy. They what the word via means as they were talking about ways of speaking, the Via Dolorosa and Jerusalem is the way of grief or the way of suffering via is a road or away, and the word in the Graziano simply means negation, so the way of negation is one of the main ways we speak about God. What's that wall that is is that we describe God, sometimes by saying what he isn't. So far we've said that God is infinite, what is our name not finite week.

We understand what finitude is. But it's limited it's bound and so on.

And when we talk about God. We say God is not like us in that respect, we're all finite. But God isn't finite. He's not finite he's infinite and one of the other characteristics that we find, of all creatures in this world is avail. Change from time to time we grow older. If nothing else, and we are therefore mutable ongoing because we undergo changes or we undergo alterations, mutations speak of God. We say what is immutable. That means he's not mutable but you see at this point what we are saying about God is what he isn't all are some people skeptics who say that's all you can say about God is what he isn't, but biblical theology teaches that in addition to speaking about God.

By way of negation. There are two other ways that we speak of God. One is what's called the V and Manan the or the way of evidence and that is where we take known human concepts or references and take them to the nth degree like we do with the word submits an already omnipotence on this since you have some understanding of what science is or what knowledge is and you know that there's a limit to your knowledge and that you have some knowledge so you are some missing and you are not on my missing and we take the word knowledge or science. In this case soon's and we elevated to the ultimate degree and applied to God that is that he has an eminent knowledge is on the knowledgeable is on the present your locally present your locally present unlikely present but God is all present and all powerful and so on and so there you build up this stepped up view it where you project out to the nth degree concepts that you can relate to and you do understand that as part of your common reference point and refer them to go on the third one is what's called the via affirm a toss I will bother to write it down is simply means the way of affirmation where we make specific statements about the character of God, namely, that God is one that God is holy God is sovereign and so on. Were we are positively attributing certain characteristics to God and affirming that they are true of him now. Another thing that we have to see. By way of speaking about God with respect to his incomprehensibility.

Three other distinctive forms of human speech. Three kinds of language.

The church has delineated historically first kind is called univocal or sometimes pronounced you know vocal.

The second is equivocal, and the third is analogical. Well, here's the difference among these terms univocal language or you know vocal language means or refers to the use of a descriptive term that when it's applied to two different beings means exactly the same thing. There is a unity of what is being set. For example, if my understanding of the love of God, and I took the term love. As I understand it is a human being and I said that God has love in exactly the same way that I have love, I would be speaking you know vocal that is the meaning of love would be the same if it applies to you, or if it applies to God may use an easier term. The word good. If I say that God is good. Do I mean by that exactly the same as what I mean when I'm refer to a human being is that's a good person or do I mean something more when I talk about God's goodness illustrated perhaps in a more crass way. I have some dogs at home and somebody says that good dogs are so yes there good dogs. What I mean by that I don't mean the same thing when I say that my dog is good that I mean when I say my neighbor is good.

When I say that my dog is good I mean by that. He comes when I: he's housebroken and he doesn't bite the mailman on the like, but if you said to me one about so-and-so over here and I say well, this fellow overhears a good man. I don't mean by that that he's housebroken that he comes when I: and he doesn't bite the mailman on the like. The term good takes on a new connotation when I referred her human bank. Then when I refer to a dog, so there the meaning of the term changes when it is applied to two different being the unit vocal would allow for no such changes in the point that we make.

Cheers, Augustine said that anything that is affirmed of God in any way must be denied and that you know vocal sense because God is never exactly the same as we look equivocal is when the meaning of a term changes radically when used for two different being my illustration that is if you go to a dramatic reading at the civic arena may be Orson Welles was in town are Charles Laughton or Richard Burton or some great dramatist and you want to see them read a portion of poetry or something new came home and you were disappointed and somebody said to more how the dead go and use as well as a bald narrative what you mean by it's a bald narrative certainly wouldn't mean that the narrative didn't have any hair on its head.

It would mean that something is lacking. There wasn't a pizzazz there was any passion. And just like something is lacking on the head of the of a bald person, namely hair so there was something lacking in the dramatic reading and so that's a big stretch.

It's a metaphorical use of bald here is in it and you're moving very far away from meaning the same thing when you're applying it to two different Matt now somewhere in between univocal and equivocal is what we call analogical and an analogy is called an analogy, because it is a kind of representation that is based on proportion where the meaning changes in direct proportion to the difference of the things being described. That's what I was getting at with the good dog a good man.

The good God that there is a step up in the meanings that when we say that God is good, we mean that his goodness is like or similar to our goodness. Not identical, but enough alike that we can talk meaningfully with each other. So the fundamental principle here is even though we don't know God exhaustively and comprehensively.

We do have a meaningful way of speaking about God because God has addressed us in our terms, and he has made us in his image so that there's an analogy between ourselves and him. And that gives us an avenue of communication between God and us in infinite and holy God, willing to communicate in a way that finite creatures can understand what an amazing truth. Her focus this week on Renewing Your Mind is Dr. RC Sproul series on systematic theology is called foundations in 60 messages. RC shows us how the truths of Scripture relate to each other, in perfect harmony.

We like to send you the full series on eight DVDs just contact us today with a donation of any amount and you can do that at Renewing Your Mind that a word the chief principle that guides follicular ministries is the sanctity of truth there is no truth more precious than God's revelation of himself in his word and that's why we think the series by Dr. scroll is so important again is called foundations and overview of systematic theology and for your gift of any amount.

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Our web address again is Renewing Your Mind.org and by way since our office is closed today for 4 July holiday at this is an online offer only. You know, learning the foundation of the Christian faith is an exciting journey as you learn, you may want to share that experience with others near connect is an online learning community that allows you to join with friends or family members and study together. It gives you the opportunity to access more than 70 interactive courses from Dr. scroll along with Sinclair Ferguson, Stephen Lawson and many others.

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Unlike interconnect is nine dollars a month then we invite you to check it out. You can do that@connect.ligonnear.org we learned today that we can understand God. Only when he reveals himself to us, but when we read Scripture. There are some things that are more challenging to understand than others. We want to look at this question of Trinity because it is one of the most difficult mysterious, puzzling and controversial doctrines of the entire Christian faith.

We hope you'll join us tomorrow as RC examines how there is one God who exists in three-person next Tuesday here on Renewing Your Mind