Читать книгу Mathers Systematic Theology - Norman W. Mathers - Страница 28

God fills both heaven and earth. Hodge admits that fatal errors have been made in philosophy and religion. God is infinite in both His being and perfections. God acts and is present everywhere (Hodge 1975:1:380-384). The infinity of God involves both his immensity and omnipresence. He fills all in all (Jer. 23:23-24, Eph. 1:23). God is both far off and near at the same time. God is everywhere with his complete being. A.A. Hodge (1972:141) argued that is proven from scripture (1 Kings 8:27, Is. 66:1, Acts 17:27-28).

Hodge points to Acts 17:28 that in God, man lives, moves, and has his being (1975:1:385). God is presented in scripture as a spiritual being, invisible, without material form, and dwelling in unapproachable light. God is the creator and the sovereign in all things (ibid:385). “One God and Father of all, the One overall, and through all and in all” [things] [author’s translation- Eph. 4:6](Aland & Black 1968:671). But God is not the all. He is separate from creation (Gen. 1:1). The Sovereign God controls and guides to fulfill His will. Shedd argued that infinity should be defined by his immensity and his omnipresence. God is infinite. He is not finite. God is without limitations imposed by time and space. Yet, he moves in and out of time and space. He is omnipotent bringing things to pass (Shedd 1979:1:399). Chafer clarifies that it is because of the decree of God that foreordained both the events and the means to accomplish the events until completed (Chafer 1971:1:215-216). L.S. Chafer categorizes the infinity of God as an absolute attribute. God controls history. He has fixed the duration of the life of nations and fixed their boundaries (Acts 17:26). Shedd (1979:1:339) argued that all of God’s communicable attributes are infinite. Job 11:7-9 communicates the infinity of God. The immensity or the vastness of God is related to his being in relationship to space (2 Chr. 2:6). His immensity is interrelated to his omnipresence (ibid:340). It needs to be re-emphasized that God is present in his universe without division of his substance (essence). God is present with His whole being at every moment at every point of infinite space (Hodge 1972:140). He is a God who is near and far off at the same time (Jer. 23:23) (Hodge 1975:1:384). God is both immanent and transcendent. Jesus promised to be with us in all the world to the end of the age. This emphasizes his infinity and omnipresence (Matt. 28:19-20). Ephesians 1:22 applies the attribute of infinity to Christ.

Dods (1950:401) in his book The City of God : Saint Augustine affirms the certainty of infinity based on revealed truth. The psalmist writing under the inspiration of the Spirit of God tells us in Psalm 147:5 that the Lord’s understanding is infinite (Chafer 1971:7:199). Common sense and the Holy Spirit should be our guides. Descartes argued that from the name of God alone that he understood God to be infinite substance, independent, omniscient, omnipotent, the creator of all things (Mackie 1982:34). However, God’s infinity must be confirmed by revelation not intuition or reason. Mackie’s reference to Descartes perception is in all likelihood perceived from the witness of God in creation. Perception and reason through reflection on the testimony of creation would affirm these invisible attributes, his deity and Godhead. Rationalism’s reason alone would be insufficient. Jenkins argues that John Gresham Machen in his books The Origin of Paul’s Religion (1923) and The Virgin Birth of Christ (1930) dealt with Christ’s miraculous entry into the world and his miraculous exit (1997:176). In his essay, My Idea of God, Dr. Machen argued that what mattered was what God had revealed in the Bible (ibid:177). Machen claimed that in the Bible the veil could be lifted from man’s eyes. Yet, Jenkins was amazed that in the next instance that Machen was quoting Rudolf Otto, the German theologian, a mystical description of God. Jenkins notes that Machen was tenacious in his clinging to God’s attributes of infinity, omnipotence, and God as the creator (ibid:177). The subject of being is addressed by Aristotle. The doctrine of God is a subject covered by Aquinas in his theology (Hankey 1987:63). It is even more astonishing that Nietzsche could consider the death of God (Bulhof and Kate 2000:1). The fact that philosophy is dead and bankrupt is seen in its failure to be able to adequately explain the infinity of God. Aristotelian philosophy and Scholasticism to Descartes in the 17^th century failed in this matter when they based their findings only on rationalism’s finite reason (ibid:10). Philosophical theology, by way of contrast, argued that infinity and perfection were concepts that were compatible. Infinity implies perfection and goodness (ibid:117). Cochrane (1956:40) relates infinity to eternity. Infinity is without limits and in addition origin. Kierkegaard is considered the founder of existential philosophy. It could be argued that Schelling was an existentialist long before Kierkegaard (ibid:40). The infinity of God in Jaspers is the transcendent. It is being in Heidegger. It is nothing in Sartre (ibid:40). Barth starts his theology with the doctrine of God. He defines God’s nature in terms of God’s act of the giving of revelation. He defends the doctrine of the Trinity. He argued that all of God’s divine attributes and his perfections are to be argued in relationship to God’s existence in three persons, the Father, the eternal Son, and the Holy Spirit (ibid:41). Barth maintained that theology should not be based on philosophical speculations but rather the biblical witness to Jesus Christ. The living God to Paul Tillich was merely the ground of being. Tillich argued that being had to be related to nonbeing. The two must not be separated from one another (ibid:86). Heidegger and Tillich held the same view that God should be defined as being (ibid:87). However, Barth made the love of God as the focal point of his doctrine of God (ibid:120).

The infinity of God means that God is without any limitations. The attributes of immensity, omnipresence, omnipotence are related to infinity. The doctrines of God as creator, the Sovereignty of God, His immanence, transcendence, and spirituality are helpful doctrines in a discussion on infinity. The infinity of God must be based on revelation. Philosophical theology is at best speculative. Intuition and reason are inadequate epistemologies. Barth argues that revelation is the only suitable epistemological basis for the attributes of God. The attributes of God must be understood in terms of God’s existence in three persons the Father, the Eternal Son, and the Holy Spirit.