The Nature of God (Part 2)

Thinking Theology

(the following transcript may contain errors)

Episode Intro

What is God like? What does he know? What does he control? Where is he? What is his relationship to time?

Those are the kinds of questions we began looking at in the last episode of Thinking Theology.

In the last episode we began looking at what are often called the attributes of God. We looked at some of the non-moral attributes: God’s self-existence, his eternity, omnipresence, omnipotence and sovereignty.

In this episode we’re thinking about some of God’s other non-moral attributes: his omniscience, wisdom, immutability, infinity, unity and simplicity.

Podcast Intro

Hi. My name is Karl Deenick. I’m a pastor, theologian, writer, and Bible college lecturer. Welcome to Thinking Theology, a podcast where we think about theology, the Bible and the Christian life, not just for the sake of it, but so we can love God more, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

Omniscience

The first attribute we’re looking at is omniscience. Or to say it how it’s spelt: omni-science.

Omniscience refers to God’s knowledge of everything.

So Psalm 147:4–5 says,

He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. (Psalm 147:4–5 NIV)

Or Psalm 50:11

I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. (Psalm 50:11 NIV)

Hebrews 4:13 says,

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:13 NIV)

Or Job 28:23–24,

God understands the way to [wisdom] and he alone knows where it dwells, for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. (Job 28:23–24 NIV)

So God knows all that goes on in the world. But God not only knows all that happens, he also knows what lies in our hearts and minds even before we do. So, David says in Psalm 139,

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. (Psalm 139:1–6 NIV)

And yet, there are a few passages in the Bible that suggest that maybe God doesn’t know everything.[1]

For example, in Genesis 18:20, God says,

The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. (Genesis 18:20–21 NIV)

But why does God need to go down to Sodom? Doesn’t he already know what’s going on there?

Or in Genesis 22, after Abraham shows himself willing to sacrifice Isaac, God says to Abraham,

Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. (Genesis 22:12 NIV)

But didn’t God already know what was in Abraham’s heart?

The same occurs in Deuteronomy 8 when God says of the people of Israel in the wilderness, that,

the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. (Deuteronomy 8:2 NIV)

Or in the very same Psalm where David exalts God’s knowledge of him, he also invites God to,

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. (Psalm 139:23 NIV)

The solution to those is quite straightforward. In each case, the issue is what God already knows being shown to be true.

God knows what is going on in Sodom and Gomorrah, but he goes to see in order that he might be seen to be completely just. He knows what is in Abraham’s heart and the heart of the people of Israel, but he tests them in order to bring to light what he already knows.

So, too, in Psalm 139, it is because God knows what is in him, that David calls on God to know him. David is simply asking God to do what he knows God does.

But God not only knows what’s going on at this very moment and everything that has gone on in the past and everything that is inside of us. The Bible also tells us that God knows everything that will happen.

For example, in 1 Samuel 23:11, David asks God,

Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Lord, God of Israel, tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will.” Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will.” (1 Samuel 23:11–12 NIV)

Clearly God knows what will happen.

Or in Jeremiah 1:5, God says,

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5 NIV)

God knew Jeremiah before his birth. That knowledge is not simply “knowing about” but “knowing”. God knows people in a relational sense. A like when I say that I know my friend, I don’t simply mean that I know about him or that he exists, I actually know him in a deeper relational sense. So, too, the Bible says, God knows his people. He even, foreknows them, that is knows them relationally before we are born.

Finally, there’s also reason to believe that God possesses what is sometimes called “Middle knowledge”. That is, God knows what would have happened in particular situations that never occurred.

For example, he knows what would have happened if you have got up 10 minutes later today instead of the time you did get up. Or he knows what would have happened if you said the thing you were thinking but decided not to say.

There are a couple of passages that highlight God’s middle knowledge. For example, Jesus says in Matthew 11:21,

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”

And again,

For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. (Matthew 11:21–23 NIV)

Or there’s a little episode in Jeremiah in Jeremiah 38 where God says through Jeremiah to the king, if you surrender then this will happen, but if you don’t surrender then that will happen.

Wisdom

Related to omniscience is wisdom. Although quite similar, the two, however, are distinct. While omniscience focusses on knowing all the facts, wisdom focusses on understanding. Not only does God know all that is going on in the world all the time, he always chooses the best and the wisest path and he always knows what the best and the wisest path is.

So Job says in Job 12:13,

“To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his. (Job 12:13 NIV)

Just as power belongs to God—absolute power. So too does wisdom, counsel and understanding.

In fact, God is not simply wise, but he is the very source of wisdom. Proverbs 2:6 says,

For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2:6 NIV)

That is, all wisdom that exists comes from God. Thus all wisdom is found completely in God.

Back in Job 12, he continues,

To [God...