the ineffable God

The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions. (Deuteronomy 29:29)

I get a Theological Word of the Day every day on my home page. Today it is the Ineffability of God.

It means, in essence, that you cannot understand God. You can try but it is impossible.

You can know God only to a certain degree. That is why he gave us so many examples of how he is. Compassion, anger, goodness, wrath, generosity – all these are parts and attributes.

He even tells us that he is love, that his nature is best summed that way. It doesn’t necessarily mean that is who or what he is.

The reason that the complex cannot be understood is simple. God is not like we are.

In some ways our trying to understand God is like the cat trying to understand me. we are too different.

When God made us in his image, he made us in some ways like him. But at the same time he is still other. He is not like us and we just cannot get our heads around who he is or what he is.

Our theology is filled with ineffable beliefs. Quite frankly, I have heard numerous sermons and have preached them myself, but I still do not understand salvation. Nor do I truly understand why God had to send Jesus to die the way he did.

After all, we are dealing with One who is eternal, who never was not, one who lives in multiple times, throughout the universe and yet also deals with each of his children individually.

He is one who is three yet is still one God. He is infinite yet I can talk to him.

He has revealed a lot to us through his word, yet there is so much that I do not know and never will.

And anyone who tells you that he understands God is being foolish. He has secrets that we cannot know. He has facts we cannot know and would not understand if we did.

He is God.