God is great (Deut. 7:21; Neh. 4:14; Ps. 48:1; 86:10; 95:3; 145:3; Dan. 9:4), greater than we can grasp. Theology states this truth by describing Him as “incomprehensible”—not that He is irrational or illogical, so as to prevent us from following His thoughts at all, but that our minds cannot contain Him, because He is infinite and we are finite. Scripture portrays God not only as dwelling in thick and impenetrable darkness, but also as dwelling in unapproachable light (Ps. 97:2; 1 Tim. 6:16). These two images express the same thought: our Creator is above us; and it is beyond our power to take His measure.
God tells us in the Bible that creation, providence, the Trinity, the incarnation, the regenerating work of the Spirit, union with Christ in His death and resurrection, and the inspiration of Scripture—to go no further—are facts; and we accept them on the strength of His word, without knowing how they can be. As creatures, we are unable fully to comprehend either the being or the actions of the Creator.
As it would be wrong, however, to suppose ourselves to know everything about God (and so in effect to imprison Him in the box of our own limited notion of Him), so it would be wrong to doubt that our concept of God constitutes real knowledge of Him. One of the consequences of being made in God’s image is that we are able both to know about Him and to know Him relationally, in a true if limited way. Calvin speaks of God as condescending to our weakness and accommodating Himself to our incapacity, both in the inspiration of the Scriptures and the incarnation of the Son, in order to give us genuine understanding of Himself. By analogy, the form and substance of a parent’s baby-talk bears no comparison with the full contents of the parent’s mind, which might be expressed in conversation with another adult; but still the child receives true information about the parent from the baby-talk, and responds with growing love and trust.
This is why the Creator presents Himself to us anthropomorphically, as having a face (Ex. 33:11), ears (Neh. 1:6), and eyes (Job 28:10); or as having feet (Nah. 1:3), sitting on a throne (1 Kin. 22:19), flying on the wind (Ps. 18:10), or fighting in battle (2 Chr. 32:8; Is. 63:1-6). These are not descriptions of what God is in Himself, but of what He is to us: the transcendent Lord who relates to His people as Father and Friend. God comes to us in this way to draw us out in love and trust, even though in a way we are always like little children who understand only in part (1 Cor. 13:12).
We should never forget that the purpose of theology is doxology; we study in order to praise. The truest expression of trust in God will always be worship, and it will always be proper worship to praise God for being greater than we know.
Sproul, R.C. The Greatness of God. The Reformation Study Bible. Orlando, Florida: Ligonier Ministries, 594.
