'High' view of God (3)

Before we get to the issue of Genesis 6, we might have to ask where these ‘attributes’ come from. In general, we do not have a problem with these concepts. It will be very easy to back all of them up from the Bible as Systematic Theologians have done. So what is the problem then? According to König (1978:73), this theology is based upon a “Greek philosophical god-concept” by which “certain requirements or characteristics of ‘the divine’ gradually became general in the early church.” According to the Greek philosophers, gods need to fulfill certain requirements to be truly god. For example, if a god is not able to do everything at any time, he cannot really be god. Thus, when we talk about God as being almighty, we have an idea of God being able to do anything at any time. The question is whether the Bible means the same thing when it refers to God being almighty.

Already in the Middle Ages, philosophers questioned the idea of God being omnipotent with a sort of a tongue in the cheek question that became known as the omnipotent paradox. One of the questions being asked is whether an omnipotent (almighty) being can create a stone heavy enough that he cannot pick it up. You work it out.

In terms of the Bible, we should start by saying that God can and will only do what he wants. We are in no position to tell God what he can and cannot do. Secondly, there are many examples of God limiting himself in terms of what he will and will not do. See Genesis 9:8-17, for example. Thirdly, when we consider the Old Testament narrative of God’s journey with his people, it is clear that God’s plan with and for his people are many times frustrated by them – mere human beings. Surely, God could turn them into puppets to act out his will, but because he is more interested in relationship than puppets, he is willing to walk with them even though they (like us) go against his will. Therefore, when we consider the attributes of God, we will have to ask ourselves what we mean by them. Is what we understand by them filled with a philosophical or a biblical view of God? It is very easy to superimpose a worldview that is essentially foreign to Scripture and let that worldview take priority over what the Bible itself wants to communicate.

What we do know, talking about the omnipotence of God, is that in the end, God will fulfill his plan to bring everything together under Christ (Eph 1:9-10). He is on his way to fulfill his purpose with creation and in a certain sense, he already did it in Christ. Whether everything works out according to plan in the meantime is another question.

Thus, while advocating a high view of God we can easily create an image of God that is not based on Scripture. When we consider the attributes of God we need to ask ourselves whether, what we understand by them, is based on what the Bible means by them.