God Is Simple

[I am not abandoning Ephesians, but I had an idea last week for another project journeying through "God is..." truths. This is the first one I've written, and I wanted to get your feedback on whether or not to continue work on this project alongside Ephesians. Please leave a comment or direct message me if you'd like to see a series on "God is..." truths.]

Let’s begin by reading Isaiah 6:1-8. What are some of the things you see in this passage?

First, God is being worshiped. Throughout this passage, we see how awesome God is. He is holy, holy, holy. He is the Lord of hosts. Lord is God’s covenantal name Yahweh which reveals God’s self-existence and self-sufficient nature. Hosts in the Hebrew is not how we would define it. The Hebrew tsabaot comes from the root word meaning army or a multitude of warriors. The “hosts” God commands include the celestial bodies like the sun, moon, and stars (Jeremiah 31:35), innumerable heavenly beings or angel armies (1 Kings 22:19; Matthew 26:53; Revelation 5:11), as well as human armies (1 Samuel 17:45). God is also glorious.

In response to God’s awesomeness the earth shook, the house filled with smoke, and Isaiah cried, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” As Isaiah beheld God’s holiness, sovereignty, and power, He was undone by his own sinfulness.

Then, we see God act. A seraphim touched Isaiah’s lips with a burning coal, taking Isaiah’s guilt away and atoning for his sin. This points us to Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross.

Lastly, God asks: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah responds: “Here I am! Send me.” Isaiah beholds the glory of God, he recognizes his own sinfulness, God takes his guilt away, and Isaiah responds with willing obedience.

I started with this passage because it illustrates why it is important to start with “God is…” or “God does…” truths when we read Scripture (not including any background study you may do before reading a book of the Bible). Everything flows out of who God is and what God does. Who God is deserves our worship. What God does beckons us to thanksgiving. Who God is reveals our sinfulness, but what God did through Christ gives us a new identity in Christ. Who God is and what He has done calls us to walk in obedience.

Identifying “God is…” truths is not about making a list. Who God is is meant to transform us and lead us to respond. In meditating on who God is, we know Him more fully. But as we look for “God is…” truths, we look to Christ. “He [Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3a), and “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15). Mark Jones summarized this way, “We shall see and know God but only in and through Christ.”^[1]

So, as we begin our journey through “God is…” truths we want to remember that we are not merely accumulating knowledge of who God is, but we are seeking to see and know Him more fully, and then respond in light of His awesomeness.

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

Jeremiah 9:23-24 (emphasis added)

Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord.

Hosea 6:3

A couple more introductory thoughts. God has made Himself known, but at the same time, He is also unknown. We can never understand all that God is. We also must base our knowledge of God solely on what God has revealed about Himself in Scripture. Further, as all things flow out of who God is, all other doctrines are tied inexplicably to the doctrine of God. Nothing in this world makes sense apart from knowing who God is.

But why begin with “God is simple?” What does that even mean? I’ll admit that until I read Mark Jones’ book, God Is: A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God, “simple” was not an attribute I had ever heard talked about, but I think it is important to our study to include and begin with it.

When I think of complex, I think of a Lego kit for the Millenium Falcon containing 7541 little pieces. They are all separate. They fit together, but you might put something in the wrong place, forget a piece, or lose a piece. All those pieces on their own are not the Millenium Falcon. They are just Lego pieces. All those pieces can change. You can put them together and take them apart.

When we approach “God is …” truths they are not like those individual, little Lego pieces. God is never one attribute standing alone from all His other attributes. Another way to say that is to say that God is absolute, meaning that within His being no distinctions exist. Let me explain a little more. We might describe a person as loving, but God isn’t just loving. He IS love itself. A loving person might also at times be critical, angry, or unkind. God can never be anything but love. It is His essence, but His essence isn’t love alone.

Each of God’s attributes are inextricably woven together with each other. They can’t be pulled apart like Legos. The world and even some Christians will often latch on to God is love, but they want to separate God’s love from His wrath and justice. God cannot be divided. His love is His wrath and His justice and His mercy and His kindness, and so on.

One of God’s attributes is His immutability. He never changes. This is part of God being simple. Change or mutability, like rearranging Lego pieces, is absolutely inconsistent with simplicity. If God could be changed, He would not be God.

“All he does for us necessarily involves all these attributes.”^[2] If our concept of God is any different than this, than the God we say we believe in is not the one true God of the Bible.

Now, it is true that at times one attribute might be more visible in a particular work of God, but that does not mean that His other attributes are not all working harmoniously with the one that is more visible. For example, in the account of Noah, story-book tale of cute animals on a boat aside, we see God’s wrath and justice against mankind. He flooded the earth wiping out all life except Noah and his family and two of every kind of animal because the wickedness of man was great and every intention of man’s heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5). But we can also see God’s kindness and mercy in sparing Noah and his family.

God is simple. He is not bits and pieces we can make into our own version of God. He is who He says He is – all of His attributes, all of the time, always in harmony with each other, never changing.

[Listen to Big Daddy Weave, “Overwhelmed”]

Reflection

1.    Let’s take just two of God’s attributes: His sovereignty and His righteousness. What if God was only sovereign (in control of all things, this would include His omnipotence), but He was not righteous? What would that look like? Now reverse it. What if God was only righteous but not sovereign? What would that look like? Does this give you a glimpse into the truth that God’s attributes are always working in harmony with each other?

2.    Let’s look at the truth that God is simple in Jesus’ atoning work on cross. How do you see God’s different attributes on display? Why is it necessary for them all to be working together?

3.    Let’s look at the truth that God is simple as it applies to us. Read Galatians 5:22-23. Note that fruit is singular. This is similar to God’s attributes. They aren’t individual Lego pieces where I may have the piece of faithfulness while you have the piece of patience. Talk through the list, thinking of the impact of each one in this way: Love is joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. Love cannot be separated from the other eight. The same is true for each one.

^[1] Jones, Mark. God Is: A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God. Wheaton, Crossway, 2017.

^[2] Jones, Mark. God Is: A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God. Wheaton, Crossway, 2017.