The divine essence is unknowable. St. John of Damascus wrote:
It is plain, then, that there is a God. But what He is in His essence and nature is absolutely incomprehensible and unknowable. (An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book I, chapter 4, by St. John of Damascus, 645-750 A.D., vol. 9, part 2, p. 3, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series)
Yet, despite the unknowability of God's essence, it is still possible to know God. God Himself wants us to know Him.
For I will have mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than whole-burnt-offerings. (Hosea 6:7, LXX; Hosea 6:6, Hebrew)
In Proverbs and in Jeremiah, the possibility of knowing God is affirmed as an absolute certainty.
For if thou shalt call to wisdom, and utter thy voice for understanding; and if thou shalt seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. (Prov. 2:3-5, LXX)
And they shall not at all teach every one his fellow citizen, and every one his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them: for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more. (Jer. 38:34, LXX; Jer. 31:34, Hebrew)
So then, it is possible to know God, but it is impossible to know the essence of God.
Whenever we speak of God, we speak of God's essence and His energies. Although we can never know the essence of God, we can know the energies of God. The essence of God and the energies of God are God.
We do not dissect God into parts, however, as a biologist would do with a frog. We do not separate God's essence from His energies. For one thing, we cannot do that. It is an impossible task. We, however, are able to know the energies of God.
Some examples of God's energies are love, wisdom, understanding, power, truth, mercy, justice, and wrath.
St. Maximus the Confessor said that we know God by participation. God is love. (I John 4:8,16) When we love others, we participate in God's love and know God.
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (I John 4:7,8)
It is possible to know God's love. St. John wrote:
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (I John 4:16)
St. Paul said that "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." (Rom. 5:5)
God is wisdom. St. Paul called Christ "the Wisdom of God." (I Cor. 1:24) Jesus Christ claimed to be God.
I and My Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from My Father; for which of those works do ye stone Me? The Jews answered Him, saying, For a good work we stone Thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a Man, makest Thyself God. (St. John 10:30-33)
So then, the Wisdom of God claims to be God and the Wisdom of God is God. God is Wisdom. St. James wrote:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 1:5)
To obtain wisdom from God is to obtain God. Those who have God's wisdom participate in one of God's energies. The same holds true for understanding. In the passage previously quoted from Proverbs, it said that those who seek for wisdom and understanding like searching for silver "understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." (Prov. 2:3-5, LXX)
St. Paul also called Christ "the Power of God" (I Cor. 1:24) and, as we have already seen, Christ claims to be God. So, the Power of God is God and God is Power. The Holy Prophet Jeremiah wrote:
The Lord made the Earth by His power, preparing the world by His wisdom, by His understanding He stretched out the heaven. (Jer. 28:15, LXX; Jer. 51:15, Hebrew)
Tertullian quoted this verse in his writings.
Do not be willing so to cover God with flattery, as to contend that He produced by His mere appearance and simple approach so many vast substances, instead of rather forming them by His own energies. For this is proved by Jeremiah when he says, “God hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by His understanding.” (Jer. 28:15, LXX; Jer. 51:15, Hebrew) These are the energies by the stress of which He made this universe. (Against Hermogenes, chapter XLV, by Tertullian, 145-220 A.D., vol. 3, p. 502, Ante-Nicene Fathers)
Tertullian called God's power, wisdom, and understanding His energies. Clement of Alexandria wrote:
For if we have as our teacher Him that filled the universe with His holy energies in creation, salvation, beneficence, legislation, prophecy, teaching, we have the Teacher from whom all instruction comes. (Exhortation to the Heathen, chapter 11, by Clement of Alexandria, 153-217 A.D., vol. 2, p. 203, Ante-Nicene Fathers)
In the Wisdom of Solomon, it says:
For Thou lovest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which Thou hast made: for never wouldest Thou have made any thing, if Thou hadst hated it. (Wisd. 11:24)
God created everything in love. Love is an energy of God. God's love was involved in creation. In the Psalms it says: "Thy mercy, O Lord, endures for ever." (Psalm 137:8, LXX) Jesus said that God is merciful. (St. Luke 6:36) God has always been merciful and always will be merciful. King David called God "my Mercy." (Psalm 58:17, LXX; 143:2, LXX) God is mercy. Mercy is God. In I Esdras, it says that Truth is all-powerful and eternal.
As for the Truth, it endureth, and is always strong; it liveth and conquereth for evermore. (I Esdras 4:38)
Great is Truth, and mighty above all things. (I Esdras 4:41)
Jesus Christ, who is God, claimed to be the Truth.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. (St. John 14:6)
St. Peter called the Holy Spirit God.
But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? “While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:1-4, NKJV)
St. John said that the Holy Spirit is Truth.
And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. (I John 5:6)
So then, God is Truth. In the Psalms it says:
For Thy mercy is great above the heavens, and Thy truth reaches to the clouds. (Psalm 107:4, LXX)
It also says:
For the Lord is good, His mercy is for ever; and His truth endures to generation and generation. (Psalm 99:5, LXX)
Truth and mercy are eternal. They are uncreated. They are God's energies. When we are merciful to others, we participate in God's mercy and behave like His children.
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. (St. Luke 6:35,36)
When we find truth and cling to it and practice it, we participate in God's energies, too. God's wrath is also one of His energies. It is intended to deter us from sin so that we will stay on the path to eternal life. Whenever we experience God's wrath, we should repent and try to live a life pleasing to God.
We can see God's energies in His creation.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims the work of His hands. (Psalm 18:1, LXX)
Surely vain are all men by nature, who are ignorant of God, and could not out of the good things that are seen know Him that is: neither by considering the works did they acknowledge the Workmaster; but deemed either fire, or wind, or the swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the violent water, or the lights of heaven, to be the gods which govern the world. With whose beauty if they being delighted took them to be gods; let them know how much better the Lord of them is: for the First Author of Beauty hath created them. But if they were astonished at their power and virtue, let them understand by them, how much mightier He is that made them. For by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the Maker of them is seen. (Wisd. 13:1-5)
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. (Rom. 1:19,20)
Through beholding the energies of God and participating in them we can know God.
I have mentioned some things about Jesus Christ being God and the Holy Spirit being God in this blog. I have also pointed out in a previous blog that there is only one God. We Christians do not worship three Gods. We worship one God who is three distinct Persons. We call the three Persons who are God the Holy Trinity. It is important that one understand some things about the Holy Trinity if one desires to know God. I will say more about the Holy Trinity in future blogs.
Steve
Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Alexander Roberts, D.D. & James Donaldson, LL.D., volumes 1-10, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D. & Henry Wace, D.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts
It is plain, then, that there is a God. But what He is in His essence and nature is absolutely incomprehensible and unknowable. (An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book I, chapter 4, by St. John of Damascus, 645-750 A.D., vol. 9, part 2, p. 3, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series)
Yet, despite the unknowability of God's essence, it is still possible to know God. God Himself wants us to know Him.
For I will have mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than whole-burnt-offerings. (Hosea 6:7, LXX; Hosea 6:6, Hebrew)
In Proverbs and in Jeremiah, the possibility of knowing God is affirmed as an absolute certainty.
For if thou shalt call to wisdom, and utter thy voice for understanding; and if thou shalt seek it as silver, and search diligently for it as for treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. (Prov. 2:3-5, LXX)
And they shall not at all teach every one his fellow citizen, and every one his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them: for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more. (Jer. 38:34, LXX; Jer. 31:34, Hebrew)
So then, it is possible to know God, but it is impossible to know the essence of God.
Whenever we speak of God, we speak of God's essence and His energies. Although we can never know the essence of God, we can know the energies of God. The essence of God and the energies of God are God.
We do not dissect God into parts, however, as a biologist would do with a frog. We do not separate God's essence from His energies. For one thing, we cannot do that. It is an impossible task. We, however, are able to know the energies of God.
Some examples of God's energies are love, wisdom, understanding, power, truth, mercy, justice, and wrath.
St. Maximus the Confessor said that we know God by participation. God is love. (I John 4:8,16) When we love others, we participate in God's love and know God.
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (I John 4:7,8)
It is possible to know God's love. St. John wrote:
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (I John 4:16)
St. Paul said that "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." (Rom. 5:5)
God is wisdom. St. Paul called Christ "the Wisdom of God." (I Cor. 1:24) Jesus Christ claimed to be God.
I and My Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from My Father; for which of those works do ye stone Me? The Jews answered Him, saying, For a good work we stone Thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a Man, makest Thyself God. (St. John 10:30-33)
So then, the Wisdom of God claims to be God and the Wisdom of God is God. God is Wisdom. St. James wrote:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 1:5)
To obtain wisdom from God is to obtain God. Those who have God's wisdom participate in one of God's energies. The same holds true for understanding. In the passage previously quoted from Proverbs, it said that those who seek for wisdom and understanding like searching for silver "understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." (Prov. 2:3-5, LXX)
St. Paul also called Christ "the Power of God" (I Cor. 1:24) and, as we have already seen, Christ claims to be God. So, the Power of God is God and God is Power. The Holy Prophet Jeremiah wrote:
The Lord made the Earth by His power, preparing the world by His wisdom, by His understanding He stretched out the heaven. (Jer. 28:15, LXX; Jer. 51:15, Hebrew)
Tertullian quoted this verse in his writings.
Do not be willing so to cover God with flattery, as to contend that He produced by His mere appearance and simple approach so many vast substances, instead of rather forming them by His own energies. For this is proved by Jeremiah when he says, “God hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by His understanding.” (Jer. 28:15, LXX; Jer. 51:15, Hebrew) These are the energies by the stress of which He made this universe. (Against Hermogenes, chapter XLV, by Tertullian, 145-220 A.D., vol. 3, p. 502, Ante-Nicene Fathers)
Tertullian called God's power, wisdom, and understanding His energies. Clement of Alexandria wrote:
For if we have as our teacher Him that filled the universe with His holy energies in creation, salvation, beneficence, legislation, prophecy, teaching, we have the Teacher from whom all instruction comes. (Exhortation to the Heathen, chapter 11, by Clement of Alexandria, 153-217 A.D., vol. 2, p. 203, Ante-Nicene Fathers)
In the Wisdom of Solomon, it says:
For Thou lovest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which Thou hast made: for never wouldest Thou have made any thing, if Thou hadst hated it. (Wisd. 11:24)
God created everything in love. Love is an energy of God. God's love was involved in creation. In the Psalms it says: "Thy mercy, O Lord, endures for ever." (Psalm 137:8, LXX) Jesus said that God is merciful. (St. Luke 6:36) God has always been merciful and always will be merciful. King David called God "my Mercy." (Psalm 58:17, LXX; 143:2, LXX) God is mercy. Mercy is God. In I Esdras, it says that Truth is all-powerful and eternal.
As for the Truth, it endureth, and is always strong; it liveth and conquereth for evermore. (I Esdras 4:38)
Great is Truth, and mighty above all things. (I Esdras 4:41)
Jesus Christ, who is God, claimed to be the Truth.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. (St. John 14:6)
St. Peter called the Holy Spirit God.
But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? “While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:1-4, NKJV)
St. John said that the Holy Spirit is Truth.
And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. (I John 5:6)
So then, God is Truth. In the Psalms it says:
For Thy mercy is great above the heavens, and Thy truth reaches to the clouds. (Psalm 107:4, LXX)
It also says:
For the Lord is good, His mercy is for ever; and His truth endures to generation and generation. (Psalm 99:5, LXX)
Truth and mercy are eternal. They are uncreated. They are God's energies. When we are merciful to others, we participate in God's mercy and behave like His children.
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. (St. Luke 6:35,36)
When we find truth and cling to it and practice it, we participate in God's energies, too. God's wrath is also one of His energies. It is intended to deter us from sin so that we will stay on the path to eternal life. Whenever we experience God's wrath, we should repent and try to live a life pleasing to God.
We can see God's energies in His creation.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims the work of His hands. (Psalm 18:1, LXX)
Surely vain are all men by nature, who are ignorant of God, and could not out of the good things that are seen know Him that is: neither by considering the works did they acknowledge the Workmaster; but deemed either fire, or wind, or the swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the violent water, or the lights of heaven, to be the gods which govern the world. With whose beauty if they being delighted took them to be gods; let them know how much better the Lord of them is: for the First Author of Beauty hath created them. But if they were astonished at their power and virtue, let them understand by them, how much mightier He is that made them. For by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the Maker of them is seen. (Wisd. 13:1-5)
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. (Rom. 1:19,20)
Through beholding the energies of God and participating in them we can know God.
I have mentioned some things about Jesus Christ being God and the Holy Spirit being God in this blog. I have also pointed out in a previous blog that there is only one God. We Christians do not worship three Gods. We worship one God who is three distinct Persons. We call the three Persons who are God the Holy Trinity. It is important that one understand some things about the Holy Trinity if one desires to know God. I will say more about the Holy Trinity in future blogs.
Steve
Bibliography
Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Alexander Roberts, D.D. & James Donaldson, LL.D., volumes 1-10, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D. & Henry Wace, D.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts
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