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The Greatness of God by Herman Bavinck
On the very first page of the Bible the absolute transcendence of God
above His creatures comes to our attention. Without strain or fatigue
He calls the whole world into existence by His word alone. By the
word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by
the breath of His mouth (Ps. 33 :6). He speaks and it is done; He
commands and it stands fast (Ps. 33:9). He does according to His
will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth.
And none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, what doest Thou
(Dan. 4:35)? The nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted
as the small dust of the balance: behold, He taketh up the isles as a
very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts
thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as
nothing, and they are counted to Him as less than nothing, and
vanity. To whom then will you liken God? or what likeness will you
compare unto Him (Isa. 40:15-18). For who in the heaven can be
compared unto the Lord? who among the sons of the mighty can be
likened unto the Lord (Ps. 89:6). There is no name by which He can
truly be named: His name is wonderful.1 When God speaks to Job
out of the thunder and displays the magnitude of His works before
him, Job humbly bows his head, and says: Behold, I am vile, What
shall I answer Thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth (Job 40:4).
God is great, and we know Him not (Job 36:26). Such knowledge is
too wonderful for us. It is high. We cannot attain unto it (Ps. 139:6).
Nevertheless, this same sublime and exalted God stands in intimate
all His creatures, even the meanest and smallest. What the scriptures
give us is not an abstract concept of God, such as the philosopher
gives us, but puts the very. living God before us and lets us see Him
in the works of His hands. We have hut to lift up our eyes and see
who has made all things. All things were made by His hand, brought
forth by His will and His deed. And they are all sustained by His
strength. Hence everything bears the stamp of His excellences and
the mark of His goodness, wisdom, and power. And among creatures
only man was created in His image and likeness. Only man is called
the offspring of God (Acts 17:28).
Because of this intimate relationship, God can be named in the terms
of His creatures, and He can be spoken of anthropomorphically. The
same Scripture which speaks in the most exalted way of God's
incomparable greatness and majesty, at the same time speaks of Him
in figures and images which sparkle with life. It speaks of His eyes
and ears, His hands and feet, His mouth and lips, His heart and
bowels. It ascribes all kinds of attributes to Him - of wisdom and
knowledge, will and power, righteousness and mercy, and it ascribes
to Him also such emotions as joy and grief, fear and vexation, zeal
and envy, remorse and wrath, hatred and anger. It speaks of His
observing and thinking, His hearing and seeing, His remembering
and forgetting, smelling and tasting, sitting and rising, visiting and
forsaking, blessing and chastising, and the like. It compares Him to a
sun and a light, a fountain and a spring, a rock and a shelter, a sword
and buckler, a lion and an eagle, a hero and a warrior, an artist and
builder, a king and a judge, a husbandman and a shepherd, a man
and a father. In short, all that can be found in the whole world in the
way of support and shelter and aid is originally and perfectly to be
found in overflowing abundance in God. Of Him the whole family in
heaven and earth is named (Eph. 3.15). He is the Sun of being and all
creatures are His fleeting rays.
It is important, therefore, in this matter of the knowledge of God, for
us to keep a firm hold on both of these groups of statements
concerning the Divine being and to do justice to each of them. For, if
we sacrifice the absolute transcendence of God above all of His
creatures, we fall into polytheism (the pagan religion of many gods)
or pantheism (the religion in which everything is God), two false
religions which, according to the lesson of history, are closely related
to each other and easily pass from the one into the other.
And if we sacrifice the close relationship of God to His creatures, we
go aground on the reef of deism (belief in God without benefit of
revelation) or of atheism (the denial of the existence of God), two
religions which, like those others, have numerous characteristics in
common with each other.
Scripture clings to both groups of characteristics, and Christian
theology has followed in its wake. God actually does not have a name
according to which we can truly name Him, and He names Himself
and lets us name Him with many, many names. He is the infinitely
Exalted One, and at the same time the One who lives along with all
His creatures. In a certain sense all of His attributes are such as
cannot be shared, and in another sense they are such as can all be
shared. We cannot fathom this with our mind. There is no such thing
as an adequate concept of God. There is no one who can give a
definition, a delimitation, of God that is adequate to His being. The
name which fully expresses what He is cannot be found. But the one
group of characteristics outlined above does not conflict with the
other. Precisely because God is the High and Exalted One, and lives
in eternity, He also dwells with those who are of a contrite and
humble Spirit (Isa. 57 :15. We know that God did not reveal Himself
in order that we should draw up a philosophical concept of God from
His revelation, but in order that we should accept Him, the true,
living God, as our God, and should acknowledge and confess Him.
These things are hidden from the wise and prudent, but they have
been revealed to babes (Matt. 11 :25).
The knowledge which we get of God by way of His revelation is
therefore a knowledge of faith. It is not adequate, in the sense that it
is not equivalent to the being of God, for God is infinitely exalted
above all His creatures. Such knowledge is not purely symbolical
either that is to say, couched in expressions which we have arbitrarily
formed and which do not correspond to any reality; instead this
knowledge is ectypal (ectype: an impression, as in printing) or
analogical (analogy: correspondence or similarity in form) because it
is based on the likeness and relationship which, notwithstanding
God's absolute majesty, nevertheless exists between God and all the
works of His hand. The Knowledge which God grants us of Himself
in nature and in Scripture is limited, finite, fragmentary, but it is
nevertheless true and pure. Such is God as He has revealed Himself
in His Word and specifically in and through Christ; and He alone is
such as our hearts require.
Our Reasonable Faith. Herman Bavinck. Baker Book House. 1956.
Pages 132-134.
The Greatness and Miserableness of Man Herman Bavinck
The conclusion, therefore, is that of Augustine, who said that the
heart of man was created for God and that it cannot find rest until it
rests in his Father's heart. Hence all men are really seeking after
God, as Augustine also declared, but they do not all seek Him in the
right way, nor at the right place. They seek Him down below, and He
is up above. They seek Him on the earth, and He is in heaven. They
seek Him afar, and He is nearby. They seek Him in money, in
property, in fame, in power, and in passion; and He is to be found in
the high and the holy places, and with him that is of a contrite and
humble spirit (Isa. 57:15). But they do seek Him, if haply they might
feel after Him and find Him (Acts 17:27). They seek Him and at the
same time they flee Him. They have no interest in a knowledge of His
ways, and yet they cannot do without Him. They feel themselves
attracted to God and at the same time repelled by Him.
In this, as Pascal so profoundly pointed out, consists the greatness
and the miserableness of man. He longs for truth and is false by
nature. He yearns for rest and throws himself from one diversion
upon another. He pants for a permanent and eternal bliss and seizes
on the pleasures of a moment. He seeks for God and loses himself in
the creature. He is a born son of the house and he feeds on the husks
of the swine in a strange land. He forsakes the fountain of living
waters and hews out broken cisterns that can hold no water (Jer.
2:13). He is as a hungry man who dreams that he is eating, and when
he awakes finds that his soul is empty; and he is like a thirsty man
who dreams that he is drinking, and when he awakes finds that he is
faint and that his soul has appetite (Isa. 29:8).
Science cannot explain this contradiction in man. It reckons only
with his greatness and not with his misery, or only with his misery
and not with his greatness. It exalts him too high, or it depresses him
too far, for science does not know of his Divine origin, nor of his
profound fall. But the Scriptures know of both, and they shed their
light over man and over mankind; and the contradictions are
reconciled, the mists are cleared, and the hidden things are revealed.
Man is an enigma whose solution can he found only in God.
Our Reasonable Faith. Herman Bavinck. Baker Book House. 1956.
Pages 22-23.
On the very first page of the Bible the absolute transcendence of God
above His creatures comes to our attention. Without strain or fatigue
He calls the whole world into existence by His word alone. By the
word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by
the breath of His mouth (Ps. 33 :6). He speaks and it is done; He
commands and it stands fast (Ps. 33:9). He does according to His
will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth.
And none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, what doest Thou
(Dan. 4:35)? The nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted
as the small dust of the balance: behold, He taketh up the isles as a
very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts
thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as
nothing, and they are counted to Him as less than nothing, and
vanity. To whom then will you liken God? or what likeness will you
compare unto Him (Isa. 40:15-18). For who in the heaven can be
compared unto the Lord? who among the sons of the mighty can be
likened unto the Lord (Ps. 89:6). There is no name by which He can
truly be named: His name is wonderful.1 When God speaks to Job
out of the thunder and displays the magnitude of His works before
him, Job humbly bows his head, and says: Behold, I am vile, What
shall I answer Thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth (Job 40:4).
God is great, and we know Him not (Job 36:26). Such knowledge is
too wonderful for us. It is high. We cannot attain unto it (Ps. 139:6).
Nevertheless, this same sublime and exalted God stands in intimate
all His creatures, even the meanest and smallest. What the scriptures
give us is not an abstract concept of God, such as the philosopher
gives us, but puts the very. living God before us and lets us see Him
in the works of His hands. We have hut to lift up our eyes and see
who has made all things. All things were made by His hand, brought
forth by His will and His deed. And they are all sustained by His
strength. Hence everything bears the stamp of His excellences and
the mark of His goodness, wisdom, and power. And among creatures
only man was created in His image and likeness. Only man is called
the offspring of God (Acts 17:28).
Because of this intimate relationship, God can be named in the terms
of His creatures, and He can be spoken of anthropomorphically. The
same Scripture which speaks in the most exalted way of God's
incomparable greatness and majesty, at the same time speaks of Him
in figures and images which sparkle with life. It speaks of His eyes
and ears, His hands and feet, His mouth and lips, His heart and
bowels. It ascribes all kinds of attributes to Him - of wisdom and
knowledge, will and power, righteousness and mercy, and it ascribes
to Him also such emotions as joy and grief, fear and vexation, zeal
and envy, remorse and wrath, hatred and anger. It speaks of His
observing and thinking, His hearing and seeing, His remembering
and forgetting, smelling and tasting, sitting and rising, visiting and
forsaking, blessing and chastising, and the like. It compares Him to a
sun and a light, a fountain and a spring, a rock and a shelter, a sword
and buckler, a lion and an eagle, a hero and a warrior, an artist and
builder, a king and a judge, a husbandman and a shepherd, a man
and a father. In short, all that can be found in the whole world in the
way of support and shelter and aid is originally and perfectly to be
found in overflowing abundance in God. Of Him the whole family in
heaven and earth is named (Eph. 3.15). He is the Sun of being and all
creatures are His fleeting rays.
It is important, therefore, in this matter of the knowledge of God, for
us to keep a firm hold on both of these groups of statements
concerning the Divine being and to do justice to each of them. For, if
we sacrifice the absolute transcendence of God above all of His
creatures, we fall into polytheism (the pagan religion of many gods)
or pantheism (the religion in which everything is God), two false
religions which, according to the lesson of history, are closely related
to each other and easily pass from the one into the other.
And if we sacrifice the close relationship of God to His creatures, we
go aground on the reef of deism (belief in God without benefit of
revelation) or of atheism (the denial of the existence of God), two
religions which, like those others, have numerous characteristics in
common with each other.
Scripture clings to both groups of characteristics, and Christian
theology has followed in its wake. God actually does not have a name
according to which we can truly name Him, and He names Himself
and lets us name Him with many, many names. He is the infinitely
Exalted One, and at the same time the One who lives along with all
His creatures. In a certain sense all of His attributes are such as
cannot be shared, and in another sense they are such as can all be
shared. We cannot fathom this with our mind. There is no such thing
as an adequate concept of God. There is no one who can give a
definition, a delimitation, of God that is adequate to His being. The
name which fully expresses what He is cannot be found. But the one
group of characteristics outlined above does not conflict with the
other. Precisely because God is the High and Exalted One, and lives
in eternity, He also dwells with those who are of a contrite and
humble Spirit (Isa. 57 :15. We know that God did not reveal Himself
in order that we should draw up a philosophical concept of God from
His revelation, but in order that we should accept Him, the true,
living God, as our God, and should acknowledge and confess Him.
These things are hidden from the wise and prudent, but they have
been revealed to babes (Matt. 11 :25).
The knowledge which we get of God by way of His revelation is
therefore a knowledge of faith. It is not adequate, in the sense that it
is not equivalent to the being of God, for God is infinitely exalted
above all His creatures. Such knowledge is not purely symbolical
either that is to say, couched in expressions which we have arbitrarily
formed and which do not correspond to any reality; instead this
knowledge is ectypal (ectype: an impression, as in printing) or
analogical (analogy: correspondence or similarity in form) because it
is based on the likeness and relationship which, notwithstanding
God's absolute majesty, nevertheless exists between God and all the
works of His hand. The Knowledge which God grants us of Himself
in nature and in Scripture is limited, finite, fragmentary, but it is
nevertheless true and pure. Such is God as He has revealed Himself
in His Word and specifically in and through Christ; and He alone is
such as our hearts require.
Our Reasonable Faith. Herman Bavinck. Baker Book House. 1956.
Pages 132-134.
The Greatness and Miserableness of Man Herman Bavinck
The conclusion, therefore, is that of Augustine, who said that the
heart of man was created for God and that it cannot find rest until it
rests in his Father's heart. Hence all men are really seeking after
God, as Augustine also declared, but they do not all seek Him in the
right way, nor at the right place. They seek Him down below, and He
is up above. They seek Him on the earth, and He is in heaven. They
seek Him afar, and He is nearby. They seek Him in money, in
property, in fame, in power, and in passion; and He is to be found in
the high and the holy places, and with him that is of a contrite and
humble spirit (Isa. 57:15). But they do seek Him, if haply they might
feel after Him and find Him (Acts 17:27). They seek Him and at the
same time they flee Him. They have no interest in a knowledge of His
ways, and yet they cannot do without Him. They feel themselves
attracted to God and at the same time repelled by Him.
In this, as Pascal so profoundly pointed out, consists the greatness
and the miserableness of man. He longs for truth and is false by
nature. He yearns for rest and throws himself from one diversion
upon another. He pants for a permanent and eternal bliss and seizes
on the pleasures of a moment. He seeks for God and loses himself in
the creature. He is a born son of the house and he feeds on the husks
of the swine in a strange land. He forsakes the fountain of living
waters and hews out broken cisterns that can hold no water (Jer.
2:13). He is as a hungry man who dreams that he is eating, and when
he awakes finds that his soul is empty; and he is like a thirsty man
who dreams that he is drinking, and when he awakes finds that he is
faint and that his soul has appetite (Isa. 29:8).
Science cannot explain this contradiction in man. It reckons only
with his greatness and not with his misery, or only with his misery
and not with his greatness. It exalts him too high, or it depresses him
too far, for science does not know of his Divine origin, nor of his
profound fall. But the Scriptures know of both, and they shed their
light over man and over mankind; and the contradictions are
reconciled, the mists are cleared, and the hidden things are revealed.
Man is an enigma whose solution can he found only in God.
Our Reasonable Faith. Herman Bavinck. Baker Book House. 1956.
Pages 22-23.