'High' view of God (4) - Harmonising the text

Genesis 6:6 is a good example of the problem many readers of the Old Testament experience. It eliminates the disparity between the theology (how they believe God is supposed to be / ‘high’ view of God) of many believers and how God is actually portrayed by the text.

The idea of an unchanging and omniscient God, for example, does not agree with a God who “regrets” and who is “grieved” (Gen 6:6). Translating the Hebrew terms for regret (וַיִּנָּחֶם) and grieved (וַיִּתְעַצֵּב) have been a contentious issue for both theologians and translators for centuries. This verse already caused problems for translators of the Old Testament in the 3^rd century BC. When the Jews translated the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) into Greek, it was theological impossible for them to translate the above terms with their Greek equivalent. To overcome this problem, they ‘harmonised’ the narrator’s intention with their theology and rendered it with the Greek terms meaning, “and he thought about it deeply” (Septuagint Gen 6:6).

Before frowning upon the Jews, we should acknowledge that it is a normal tendency. Van Selms (1984:106) is correct when he states, “Vertalingen trachen altijd de levende God in overeenstemming met hun godsbeeld te brengen” (Translations always try to bring the living God in alignment with their view of God [my translation]).

Without underestimating the difficulties faced by translators, this is a clear example where the meaning of the text, or the narrator's intend, became subject to the theology of the time. I also do not want to play down the importance of good theology. Without good theology, it is too easy to go about God’s word superficially. As my Theology lecturer once stated, “The task of Theology is to make the preaching of the Word of God as difficult as necessary”.

Theology helps us think deeper, clearer, and more nuanced about Scripture. When faced with these issues, the question is, however, which should get the higher priority – my 'high' view of God (theology) or Scripture?

'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.