How Should We Comprehend the God of Scripture?

HOW SHOULD WE COMPREHEND THE GOD OF SCRIPTURE? 

By Ezekiel Kimosop 

Many people wrestle with their understanding of who God truly is. This is perhaps informed by what they have heard about God from sources other than Scripture. 

In my days as a Sunday school kid, I conceived of God as a bearded old man who lived behind the clouds, wielding a cane and ready to chastise errant children! This was a terrifying image! Could this or something close to it perhaps describe your conception of God? 

Several decades later, I no longer conceive God in this manner. Thankfully, the revelation of Scripture has expanded my understanding of God. This is not to suggest that God can be fully comprehended in every conceivable aspect of His divine nature. Some aspects of His divinity remain residually incomprehensible to our finite minds! Besides, Scripture reveals that there is an aspect of God's revelation that remains concealed from us. 1 Corinthians 13:9 says "For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away." 

1 John 3:2 conveys an additional theological caveat on the limitation of our comprehension of God in our earthly nature. Apostle John proclaims "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."(NKJV). 

The Biblical Scriptures are however sufficient in revealing to us all that we require to know about God and how we can relate to Him. This truth is grounded on the doctrine of sufficiency of Scripture that informs Evangelical Christian theology. 

There are three attributes of God in Scripture that remind us about God's immeasurable grace and reveal more clearly to us God's moral nature and His intentions in seeking to draw sinful men to Himself through Christ Jesus. 

My view is that these attributes and divine activities should primarily inform the believer's view of God and our Christian obligation in proclaiming Christ. 

I will summarize them below:

1. GOD IS EXCEEDINGLY MERCIFUL 

Even though God is immutability holy, just, eternal, sovereign, omniscient and omnipotent, God is equally compassionate, faithful, loving, long-suffering and exceedingly merciful. In the exercise of His divine justice, God punished Adam and Eve for their disobedience after His prior warning to them (Genesis 2:16-17). He will certainly punish the wicked at His appointed time in accordance with the teaching of Scripture. Nevertheless, and in the exercise of His divine mercy God seeks to reconcile man to Himself. He desires to rebuild the divine bridge that was broken in Adam. This is the reason that God has tampered His justice with His indescribable mercy. 

We learn from Scripture that God reached out to sinful men in the days of Noah and Lot, warning them of the coming judgment. God continues to extend His saving grace to us though Jesus Christ. The Old Testament Scripture reveals that God is gracious. He does not always treat us as our sins deserve. 

Psalm 103:8-10 (NKJV) says: 

"The Lord is merciful and gracious,

Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

9 He will not always strive with us,

Nor will He keep His anger forever.

10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

Nor punished us according to our iniquities. (cf. Exodus 34:6; Psalm 136). 

We should therefore cherish and proclaim God's saving grace in our generation and inspire one another to Christian obedience in this sinful world.

2. GOD IS LONG-SUFFERING AND FORBEARING

God longs for sinful men to turn to Him in Christ Jesus. He has granted us a divine window of opportunity for as long as Christ shall tarry. He therefore desires that no sinner should perish in sinful disobedience (2 Peter 3:9). God's saving grace is potentially unlimited and could cover the entire world only if all sinners could turn to Christ in response to God's appeal in the gospel of Christ Jesus!  

God is therefore not glorified by the destruction of sinners in hell. This truth is affirmed in Ezekiel 33:11 where God proclaims thus: ".. As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’ (see also Ezekiel 18:23, 32). 

3. GOD HAS GRANTED MEN A FREE WILL CHOICE FOR OBEDIENCE AND SERVICE 

During the wilderness journey, Joshua challenged the people of Israel to moral obedience in a solemn gathering at Shechem, saying, "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15, NKJV). 

Notice that Joshua affirmed his covenant commitment and that of his household in trusting and serving the God of Israel. We too should subscribe to this conviction in Christ Jesus. God has always granted men a free-will choice for obedience with clear consequences (Genesis 2:16-17; John 3:16-17). 

The God of Scripture cannot, and will not, force anyone to obey Him or serve Him and neither will He arbitrarily reject any sinner that sincerely turns to Christ. God will never withhold His saving grace from any sinner who turns to Him. He has no favorites among sinners. 

We learn from New Testament Scripture that God's saving grace is open to all sinners without prior discrimination or distinction. Each sinner who hears the gospel and is convicted of sin must repent of sin and turn to Christ in order to be delivered from the kingdom of darkness and receive eternal life in Christ Jesus (cf. Romans 10:5-13; 1 Peter 2:9). 

Ephesians 2:12-13 says that we were once "...without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. "

CONCLUSION 

How do you conceive God's moral nature? 

Is your view of God consistent with His revelation of Himself in His written word? What do you make of God? Have you possibly run away from God out of mortal fear? What doctrines inform your view of God in your life? God's hand remains stretched out to us through the gospel of Jesus Christ! You too can reach out to Him today by faith. 

God cannot be different from what Scripture says He is! We therefore need to hold a healthy and balanced view of God based on the revelation and authority of Scripture. 

Shalom. 

© Ezekiel Kimosop 2023