Every Day in the Word
Ray said...
BeamStalk...I would go with the #1 dictionary definition: "1.the one Supreme Being, the creator and ruler of the universe." What's yours?
Beamstalk said...
That is a generic definition, I am asking about your God specifically. What is your definition/description of God? ... you must tell me what your God is.
@Beamstalk
God is quite simply, what God is.
The dictionary definition that Ray offers is a good starting point. And you are quite right to point out that the dictionary definition is not a complete description.
Recognize that it is impossible for us, as finite human beings, to fully comprehend an infinite, transcendent God. We are incapable of confining God within the bounds of the English language.
The comment section on Ray's blog is a totally inadequate forum for a full discussion of all the attributes and characteristics of God.
However, we do have a capacity to apprehend some truths about God. We have been given the ability to grasp ideas about God's attributes and characteristics.
I would suggest to you that there are two entire books that are devoted to revealing God to us. One is the book of nature (God's creation, the observable universe.) The other is the Bible, God's special revelation to us.
I suggest that if you desire to know more about God, you can start with Genesis 1:1
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
From this, we can recognize some of these important truths about God:
1) there was a beginning
2) God is real
3) God is one
4) God just was, before the beginning
5) God is not created
6) everything that begins to exist is created by God
7) God is the creator
8) God did not begin to exist
9) the entirety of the universe is God's handiwork
Those are just some of the important, basic truths about God that we need to apprehend.
We can't skip over these and come back to them later. If we don't get these right, then it's not going to be possible for us to make sense out of other attributes of God.
HTH
Beamstalk said...
The word used for God in this poem, is 'elohiym. It is a plural word meaning Gods.
@Beamstalk,
Yes, the noun is plural, but the verb is singular. (It's the verb form used with a singular subject, not the form used with a plural subject.)
The plural noun refers to a singular God, because that's what informs the verb.
We also observe in Genesis 1:26 and Genesis 3:22 God refers to himself in the plural:
"Let us make man in our own image" Genesis 1:26
"He has become like one of us" Genesis 3:22
Some posit this to mean there is more than one God. But is this true? Is that the reason God refers to himself in the plural?
There are references elsewhere in Scripture that contradict the idea of multiple Gods, for example, three times in Isaiah:
I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. (Isaiah 45:5)
there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:6)
For this is what the LORD says—
he who created the heavens, he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited—
he says: "I am the LORD,
and there is no other.
(Isaiah 45:18)
So, we have an apparent contradiction. If God is not referring to multiple Gods, perhaps he is hinting at something else.
Perhaps the plural noun hints to the trinity: one God revealed in three distinct persons: the father, the son and the holy spirit. (Not three Gods, but only one God.)
The plural noun may hint at the many attributes and the many names of God. This may be expressing the idea that human language is inadequate to the task of defining God.
God is both transcendent, and immanent. God is both perfectly just, and infinitely merciful.
God has names for the different facets of his nature:
Jehovah-jireh (the LORD will provide)
Jehovah-nissi (the LORD is my banner)
Jehovah-shammah (the LORD is there)
A proper exegesis is somewhat difficult, but not impossible.
HTH
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)