divine simplicity in the bible

Not so, however, with God and his attributes. Control two leds with only one PIC output. Another objection is that divine simplicity contradicts the Trinity, or the belief that God exists as three persons. Presumably there would also have to be some force that produced god out of those different parts, and that force would also be a greater being than the resulting god is. To do so is to guard the simplicity of God. Where the Catholic Church is excellent in many of its doctrines (e.g., Trinity, Hypostatic Union, Ditheletism, etc. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. For example, Gods simplicity entails his attribute of being infinite. L Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Does Hebrews 6:4-6 teach that we can lose our salvation? For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. Wikipedia defines divine simplicity this way: In theology, the doctrine of divine simplicity says that God is Help TGC bring biblical wisdom to the confusing issues across the world by making a gift to our international work. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;Like a weaned child rests against his mother,My soul is like a weaned child within me. In the case of a mousetrap, the attributes can change, but the essence remains the same. You still may want to take a look at this post on. So Jesus answered them, My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Apparently, I am not the only one who has appealed to an illustration to demonstrate what God is not like. Do you believe that too? The eye is the lamp of the body. What is Catholic Church position regarding alcohol? And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. But if God had parts he would have to create his parts, and in so doing create himself, which cant be true since God is uncreated and uncaused. nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority. Truth be told, the caramel on the pie is so thick (too thick for the taste buds of some) that you need a butchers knife to cut through it. How Our Laws Should Define Male and Female. This 4-session study will help you and your group consider what a life of simplicity looks like and why God calls us to simple lives. What is the Biblical basis? It only takes a minute to sign up. OpenBible.info All of the attributes we are familiar with, like Gods unlimited knowledge, goodness, and power, flow from the fact of his simplicity. His essence is his attributes, and his attributes, his essence. His attributes are then necessarily part of His essence. He is not made up of various compartments like goodness, love, and justice that combine to form a whole. God is simple in that God transcends every form of complexity and . And to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you. Take Anselm, for example. Catholic philosopher Edward Feser puts it this way. Divine simplicity is biblical and properly represents God as a Trinity. Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, Or in things too difficult for me. Rather, he is entirely simple.4, While Aquinas uses the words composite and composition to explain what God is not, the church father Irenaeus uses the word compound to explain what God is not. Thanks for your well thought out first post. You cannot serve God and money.. For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. When we meet with God, we meet with him in the fullness of his being, because he cannot be anything less than that. or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. If God is who he says he is, then his simplicity ties everything together, and as James put it, there is no variation in him. John 4:24 "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." In the sense that we cannot put it in a lab and break it down, we do not know what a spirit is. They are part of his essence. God is not partly invisible or partly immortal. For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. It even sounds as if God were one thing and his attributes another, something added onto him, attached to who he is. But there is one thing about God that makes him God and not just another creature: his simplicity. God is his attributes. This essay is part of the Concise Theology series. It allows only one state (none except is exclusive). Herman Bavinck writes in Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 2 (page 176): If God is composed of parts, like a body, or composed of genus (class) and differentiae (attributes of different species belonging to the same genus), substance and accidents, matter and form, potentiality and actuality, essence and existence, then his perfection, oneness, independence, and immutability cannot be maintained. Blog, A Examples would be various descriptions of God having multiple properties, such as God being powerful, wise, etc. Instead, he is goodness, love, justice, etc. Divine simplicity is central to the classical Western concept of God. I do not believe that Hebrews 6:4-6 teaches that we can lose our salvation. Theoretical analysis is useful because it allows us to concentrate on different aspects of his being, but we cannot extract one attribute, like invisibility, and treat it as if it had nothing to do with the others. If God had parts that would mean there is something more fundamental than God that allows him to exist. How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded?And scoffers delight themselves in scoffingAnd fools hate knowledge? The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here! And to him who lacks sense she says. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. Whether we think of God as immortal, impassible, or eternal, what we say about him is true of everything in him. After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. God is a simple being without parts or pieces. Instead, something is infinite if it doesnt have any limits. In reality, they go together. This might seem to distance God from man. Therefore, the doctrine is built on the doctrines of God's aseity, providence, perfection, oneness, independence, immutability, self-sufficiency, and identity as creator. Unfortunately, too many Christians today have adopted monopolytheismthat is, the belief that there is one God, but he looks a lot like the gods of mythology, possessing human attributes, only in greater measure. Thank you for your interest in supporting CARM. Welcome to Christianity.SE! His attributes cannot be separated or altered since they are part of his nature. Athanasius then applies this notion to the concept of the divine Son's generation from the Father. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Rather, his essence is his attributes and his attributes his essence. Divine simplicity is the concept that God does not exist in parts but is wholly unified, with no distinct attributes, and whose existence is synonymous with His essence. 8 Bible Verses about Simplicity 2 Corinthians 1:12 Verse Concepts For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you. He has no modes, parts, or poles. So we would say that the characteristic of Gods omnipresence is part of His nature as would be His goodness, His omniscience, His mercy, and His justice. These passages say that all things were created by God. In Scripture, this cannot be said of the gods made by humans, gods composed of parts. Some identify divine simplicity as a corollary of Divine Creation: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). You can follow him on Twitter. What Does the Bible Say About Simplicity? Not only does this approach divide up the essence of God, but it potentially risks setting one part of God against another (for example, might his love ever oppose his justice?). He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He is not the composite of his attributes, some in greater and some in lesser amounts. And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. simply put it, i currently think divine simplicity is a logically possible, but i see no Bible verse supporting it. I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. But none of these attributes are above any other within Gods nature and character. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Yes, yet the description is very definite. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. Thus, the question arises, how is it that God is eternally father? Impassibility does not mean God is apathetic, nor does it undermine divine love. Psalm 145 is an acrostic poem that fulfills its own rule by extolling God through a wide array of divine attributes, by praising God "from A to Z." Psalm 145 extols the Lord's greatness, majesty, goodness, righteousness, power, kingship, eternity, faithfulness, kindness, and holiness. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me. Do any democracies with strong freedom of expression have laws against religious desecration? And yet its how many people think about Gods attributes. and therefore from compositeness. No one is goodexcept God That means he does not possess attributes, as if his attributes are one thing and his essence another. B Simplicity means that God is without parts. The Lord preserves the simple;I was brought low, and He saved me. D Furthermore, there is no sense in which one aspect of his being (i.e., love) is above or more significant than any other (i.e., love over justice). Back during my seminary days, our family lived in Louisville, Kentucky. God, as creator is by definition separate from the universe and thus free of any property (and hence an absolute unity); see Negative theology. Acts 17:29. The Gospel Coalition supports the church by providing resources that are trusted and timely, winsome and wise, and centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. The only scriptural notion for divine simplicity I found is a statement by Jesus: Why do you call me good? Jesus answered. This essay is freely available under Creative Commons License with Attribution-ShareAlike, allowing users to share it in other mediums/formats and adapt/translate the content as long as an attribution link, indication of changes, and the same Creative Commons License applies to that material. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself., Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days., And he said to them, Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.. But the problem with this objection is that when we talk about Gods nature we always speak in analogies because God is so unlike us. Finally, divine simplicity helps us understand Gods goodness. Summary God is not made up of parts, nor is he compounded or composite in nature. Isaiah 44:6 goes further and says, I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.. Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature. In answer to your questions: Divine Simplicity is coherent for 'God' and 'good'. First, Craig stated that divine simplicity is unbiblical in that the Bible never teaches the doctrine and actually teaches things about God that could not be the case of divine simplicity were true. MSE of a regression obtianed from Least Squares. Without one of the parts, it wont work. Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love. What is the biblical basis for God being omnipresent? God is whole, not comprised of parts, complete in His essence, without variation, and is consistent and equally good as He is just, equally loving as He is merciful. God is holy, omnipotent, everlasting, unchanging, personal etc. Rather, God simply is light (1 John 1:5), holiness (Isaiah 6:3), love (1 John 4:8), and so on. First, Craig stated that divine simplicity is unbiblical in that the Bible never teaches the doctrine and actually teaches things about God that could not be the case of divine simplicity were true. A Song of Ascents. You might say its his goodness, or his power, or his knowledge. Instead, Augustine appealed to liquid, the human body, and sunshine. Euthyphro, God's Nature, and the Question of Divine Attributes, which discuss Divine Simplicity and the philosophies used to describe how God is "simple," provides a better definition in part 1: but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge.
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