The Incomprehensibility of God's InfinityНамуна

Communicable and incommunicable attributes of God

Theologians traditionally divide the attributes of God into two broad categories.

The first group is the communicable attributes

These are the ones we can know and, in some measure, share. These are qualities of God that He communicates or imparts in part to His creation — especially to humans, who are made in His image. He can never fully explain Himself or anything to us, but reveals enough to us so that we can understand sufficiently to live in a meaningful relationship with Him. We can know these aspects because they are revealed in Scripture, in Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit who reproduces them in us (Galatians 5:22-23).

The following are examples:

·Love – 1 John 4:8 (NIV): “God is love.”

·Goodness – Psalm 34:8 (NIV): “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

·Mercy – Luke 6:36 (NIV): “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

·Justice – Deuteronomy 32:4 (NIV): “All His ways are justice.”

·Wisdom – James 1:5 (NIV): “If any of you lacks wisdom, ask of God.”

·Faithfulness – 2 Timothy 2:13 (NIV): “He remains faithful.”

·Patience – Exodus 34:6 (NIV): “Slow to anger and abounding in love.”

The second group is the incommunicable attributes

These attributes belong to God alone and are beyond our ability to share or fully comprehend. These are qualities that set God apart as utterly unique — the very things that make Him God and not a created being. We can understand them in part, but we can never experience them as He does. These attributes of God are beyond human measure — uncreated, unbounded, self-sufficient, and infinite.

A.W. Tozer describes it as follows: “Forever God stands apart, in light unapproachable. He is as high above an archangel as above a caterpillar, for the gulf that separates the archangel from the caterpillar is but finite, while the gulf between God and the archangel is infinite. The caterpillar and the archangel both belong in the category of that-which-is-not-God and are separated from God by infinitude itself.”

Examples:

·Infinity – Job 36:26 (NIV): “The number of His years is past finding out.”

·Eternity – Psalm 90:2 (NIV): “From everlasting to everlasting You are God.”

·Immutability (unchanging nature) – Malachi 3:6 (NIV): “I, the Lord, do not change.”

·Omnipresence – Psalm 139:7-10 (NIV): “Where can I go from Your Spirit?”

·Omniscience – Psalm 147:5 (NIV): “His understanding is infinite.”

·Omnipotence – Jeremiah 32:17 (NIV): “Nothing is too hard for You.”

·Self-existence (Aseity) – Exodus 3:14 (NIV): “I AM WHO I AM.”

·Simplicity – God is not composed of parts; His attributes are one unified whole.

·Transcendence – Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV): “My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.”