OH, THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES BOTH OF THE WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD: O
bathos ploutou kai sophias kai gnoseos theou: (Psalms
107:8-43;
Proverbs 25:3;
Ephesians 3:18)
(2:4;
9:23;
Ephesians 1:7;
2:7;
3:8,10,16;
Colossians 1:27;
2:2,3)
Spurgeon
has the following thoughts on the riches of God...
I
remember well being taken one day to see a gorgeous palace at Venice,
where every piece of furniture was made with most exquisite taste, and
of the richest material, where statues and pictures of enormous price
abounded on all hands, and the floor of each room was paved with
mosaics of marvellous art, and extraordinary value. As I was shown
from room to room, and allowed to roam amid the treasures by its
courteous owner, I felt a considerable timidity, I was afraid to sit
anywhere, nor did I hardly dare to put down my foot, or rest my hand
to lean. Everything seemed to be too good for ordinary mortals like
myself; but when one is introduced into the gorgeous palace of
infinite goodness, costlier and fairer far, one gazes wonderingly with
reverential awe at the matchless vision. "How excellent is Thy
lovingkindness, O God!" "I am not worthy of the least of all thy
benefits. Oh! the depths of the love and goodness of the Lord." —
Feathers for Arrows
Our riches are beyond
the sea; our city with firm foundations lies on the other side the
river; gleams of glory from the spirit-world cheer our hearts, and
urge us onward. Truly is it said of us, "Happy art thou, O Israel; who
is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord?" — Morning and Evening
Weigh the riches of
Christ in scales, and His treasure in balances, and then think to
count the treasures which belong to the saints. Reach the bottom of
Christ's sea of joy, and then hope to understand the bliss which God
hath prepared for them that love Him. Overleap the boundaries of
Christ's possessions, and then dream of a limit to the fair
inheritance of the elect. "All things are yours, for ye are Christ's
and Christ is God's." — Morning and Evening
Will you take Jesus and "dwell
in Him?" See, this house is furnished with all you want, it is filled
with riches more than you will spend as long as you live. Here
you can have intimate communion with Christ and feast on His love;
here are tables well-stored with food for you to live on for ever; in
it, when weary, you can find rest with Jesus; and from it you can look
out and see heaven itself. Will you have the house? Ah! if you are
houseless, you will say, "I should like to have the house; but may I
have it?" Yes; there is the key--the key is, "Come to Jesus." "But,"
you say, "I am too shabby for such a house." Never mind; there are
garments inside. If you feel guilty and condemned, come; and though
the house is too good for you, Christ will make you good enough for
the house by-and-by. He will wash you and cleanse you, and you will
yet be able to sing, "We dwell in Him." Believer: thrice happy art
thou to have such a dwelling-place! Greatly privileged thou art, for
thou hast a "strong habitation" in which thou art ever safe. And
"dwelling in Him," thou hast not only a perfect and secure house, but
an everlasting one. When this world shall have melted like a dream,
our house shall live, and stand more imperishable than marble, more
solid than granite, self-existent as God, for it is God Himself--"We
dwell in Him." — Morning and Evening
The riches of His goodness
are unsearchable; thou shalt never be able to tell them out or even
conceive them. Oh, the breadth of the love of Christ! Shall such a
love as this have half our hearts? Shall it have a cold love in
return? Shall Jesus' marvellous lovingkindness and tender care meet
with but faint response and tardy acknowledgment? O my soul, tune thy
harp to a glad song of thanksgiving! Go to thy rest rejoicing, for
thou art no desolate wanderer, but a beloved child, watched over,
cared for, supplied, and defended by thy Lord. — Morning and Evening
Better have God for your
guardian, than the Bank of England for your possession. You might
spend the wealth of the Indies, but the infinite riches of God
you can never exhaust. — Morning and Evening
Other riches always bring
attendant griefs: none but the Lord's roses are without thorns. — The
Interpreter
All the riches of divine
grace you shall receive in plenty; you shall be as it were
drenched with it: and as sometimes the meadows become flooded by the
bursting rivers, and the fields are turned into pools, so shall you
be--the thirsty land shall be springs of water. — Morning and Evening
Blessed are the poor in
spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," with all its riches
and treasures. The whole exchequer of God shall be made over by deed
of gift to the soul which is humble enough to be able to receive it
without growing proud because of it. God blesses us all up to the full
measure and extremity of what it is safe for Him to do. If you do not
get a blessing, it is because it is not safe for you to have one. If
our heavenly Father were to let your unhumbled spirit win a victory in
His holy war, you would pilfer the crown for yourself, and meeting
with a fresh enemy you would fall a victim; so that you are kept low
for your own safety. When a man is sincerely humble, and never
ventures to touch so much as a grain of the praise, there is scarcely
any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be
blessed by the God of all grace, and fits us to deal efficiently with
our fellow men. True humility is a flower which will adorn any garden.
This is a sauce with which you may season every dish of life, and you
will find an improvement in every case. Whether it be prayer or
praise, whether it be work or suffering, the genuine salt of humility
cannot be used in excess. — Morning and Evening
It is our own fault if we make
not free with the riches of our God. Then, since thou hast such
a friend, and He invites thee, draw from Him daily. Never want whilst
thou hast a God to go to; never fear or faint whilst thou hast God to
help thee; go to thy treasure and take whatever thou needest--there is
all that thou canst want. Learn the divine skill of making God all
things to thee. He can supply thee with all, or, better still, He can
be to thee instead of all. Let me urge thee, then, to make use of thy
God. Make use of Him in prayer. Go to Him often, because He is thy
God. O, wilt thou fail to use so great a privilege? Fly to Him, tell
Him all thy wants. Use Him constantly by faith at all times. If some
dark providence has beclouded thee, use thy God as a "sun;" if some
strong enemy has beset thee, find in Jehovah a "shield," for He is a
sun and shield to His people. If thou hast lost thy way in the mazes
of life, use Him as a "guide," for He will direct thee. Whatever thou
art, and wherever thou art, remember God is just what thou wantest,
and just where thou wantest, and that He can do all thou wantest. —
Morning and Evening
Let us make daily use of our
riches, and ever repair to Him as to our own Lord in covenant,
taking from Him the supply of all we need with as much boldness as men
take money from their own purse. — Morning and Evening
Fulness of riches is in Thee!
From Thee all mercies spring:
And grace and love, divine and free,
And power enlivening.
Out of the deep of every heart,
Let praise to Thee ascend:
Till Thou to heaven shalt us translate,
Where praises never end!
Frederic Louis Godet wrote
Like a traveller who has reached the
summit of an Alpine ascent, the apostle turns and contemplates. Depths
are at his feet, but waves of light illumine them, and there spreads all
around an immense horizon which his eye commands. The plan of God in the
government of mankind spreads out before him, and he expresses the
feelings of admiration and gratitude with which the prospect fills his
heart.
Newell commented that...
The last four verses are in the
nature of a doxology. The apostle's heart was filled with worship,
praise, and admiration as the full blaze of the divine plan fills the
horizon of his soul...Apart from revelation none can know God's mind,
just as no created being could ever be His counselor. No one ever earned
grace by first giving to Him in order to earn a blessing; but everything
is from Him, and through Him, and to Him, to Whom be glory forever.
Amen.
Depth (899)
(bathos from bathús = deep) literally describes a distance
below a surface and to the depth or a deep place. Figuratively bathos
describes a great or extreme degree of anything and as a quality in
relation to God it describes His inexhaustibility, His profundity, and
His inscrutability.
How great are Thy works, O LORD! Thy
thoughts are very deep. (Psalms 92:5)
(Spurgeon commenting on God's thoughts as very deep writes..."The
Lord's plans are as marvellous as his acts; his designs are as profound
as his doings are vast. Creation is immeasurable, and the wisdom
displayed in it unsearchable. Some men think but cannot work, and others
are mere drudges working without thought; in the Eternal the conception
and the execution go together. Providence is inexhaustible, and the
divine decrees which originate it are inscrutable. Redemption is grand
beyond conception, and the thoughts of love which planned it are
infinite. Man is superficial, God is inscrutable; man is shallow, God is
deep. Dive as we may we shall never fathom the mysterious plan, or
exhaust the boundless wisdom of the all comprehending mind of the Lord.
We stand by the fathomless sea of divine wisdom, and exclaim with holy
awe, "O the depth!" "
Notes)
Riches (4149)
(ploutos from pletho = fill) can describe wealth, money,
possessions, or abundance. Here Paul is obviously not speaking of
worldly riches but of spiritual riches.
In Him (Christ) we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the
riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us (see notes
Ephesians 1:7;
1:8)
To me, the very least of all saints,
this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches
of Christ, (see note
Ephesians 3:10)
MacDonald sums up Paul's
concluding doxology as looking...
...back over the entire Epistle and
the divine wonders that have been unfolded. Paul has expounded the
marvelous plan of salvation by which a just God can save ungodly sinners
and still be just in doing so. He has shown how Christ’s work brought
more glory to God and more blessing to men than Adam lost through his
sin. He has explained how grace produces holy living in a way that law
could never do. He has traced the unbreakable chain of God’s purpose
from foreknowledge to eventual glorification. He has set forth the
doctrine of sovereign election and the companion doctrine of human
responsibility. And he has traced the justice and harmony of God’s
dispensational dealings with Israel and the nations. Now nothing could
be more appropriate than to burst forth in a hymn of praise and worship.
(MacDonald,
W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or
Logos)
God's wisdom is infinite,
unsearchable, incomparable, and invincible. (See related topics:
Wisdom,
Infinite,
Transcendent)
Paul writes to the Colossian
saints that in Christ...
are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (see note
Colossians 2:3)
Arthur W. Pink wrote
that...
God is omniscient. He knows
everything: everything possible, everything actual; all events, all
creatures, of the past, the present, and the future. (See related
topic:
Omniscient)
Godet comments that Paul's
description of
This depth is rich, not in darkness,
but in light; it is a depth both of wisdom and knowledge. —The two
kai , both...and ..., have the disjunctive sense; they
distinguish the two following substantives very precisely, however
closely allied their meaning may be. The second, gnosis,
knowledge , refers especially in the context to divine foreknowledge
, and in general to the complete view which God has of all the free
determinations of men, whether as individuals or as nations. The former,
sophia, wisdom , denotes the admirable skill with which
God weaves into His plan the free actions of man, and transforms them
into so many means for the accomplishment of the excellent end which He
set originally before Him.
Tozer commenting on the riches
of God to His children writes...
So there we are—and as Christians, we
are not only rich but nobly rich! Rich with riches which need no
apology. Riches which have no taint of having come to us through defiled
hands. I wonder when we will begin to behave and to live on the level of
our spiritual riches instead of acting like poverty-stricken creatures
trying to crawl under a leaf so we will not be seen? Let's let the world
know how rich we really are! Let's tell it—we are being kept by the
power of God unto an inheritance reserved in heaven for us! That is the
full-time business of the child of God! — Renewed Day by Day
><>><>><>
Christian theology teaches that God
in His essential nature is both inscrutable and ineffable. By simple
definition this means that He is incapable of being searched into or
understood, and that He cannot tell forth or utter what He is.
This inability lies not in God but in
the limitations of our creaturehood: "Why inquirest thou after my name,
for it is secret?"
Only God knows God in any final
meaning of the word know: "Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but
the Spirit of God."
God in His essential Being is unique
in the only sense that word will bear. That is, there is nothing like
Him in the universe. What He is cannot be conceived by the mind because
He is "altogether other" than anything with which we have had experience
before. The mind has no material with which to start. No man has ever
entertained a thought which can be said to describe God in any but the
vaguest and most imperfect sense. Where God is known at all it must be
otherwise than by our creature-reason.
In a famed treatise on the Trinity
written in the third century, Novatian said: "Every possible statement
that can be made about God expresses some possession or virtue of God,
rather than God Himself. The conception of God as He is can only be
grasped in one way—by thinking of Him as a Being whose attributes and
greatness are beyond our powers of understanding, or even of thought."—
Renewed Day by Day
HOW UNSEARCHABLE ARE HIS JUDGMENTS: os anexerauneta ta krimata autou:
(Job
5:9;
9:10;
11:7-9;
26:14;
33:13;
37:19,23;
Psalms 36:6;
40:5;
77:19;
Psalms 92:5;
Daniel 4:35)
Unsearchable (419)
(anexereunetos
from a = without +
exereunao [ex
= out + eraunao = to search or examine] = search out, focusing on the
intellectual aspect of the search) literally means "not searched out"
and thus it signifies that which is impossible to search out or fully understand. Unsearchable,
unfathomable, inscrutable ( not readily investigated, interpreted, or
understood).
TDNT writes that...
This postclassical word means
“inscrutable” and is used in Romans 11:33 for the mystery of God's way
of judgment with Israel that leads to grace. The term implies that the
question of the meaning of this judgment cannot be given any theoretical
human answer. (Kittel,
G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament. Eerdmans)
Job declares...
For man is born for trouble, as
sparks fly upward. But as
for me, I would seek God, And I would place my cause before God; Who
does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. (Job
5:9)
Who does great things, unfathomable,
And wondrous works without number.
(Job
9:10)
I love Job's picturesque description
of our matchless Lord as he asks rhetorically...
Behold, these are the fringes of
His ways; and how faint a word we hear of Him! But His mighty
thunder, who can understand? (NASB,
Job 26:14)
Yet these are but [a small part of
His doings] the outskirts of His ways or the mere fringes of His force,
the faintest whisper of His voice! Who dares contemplate or who
can understand the thunders of His full, magnificent power? (Amplified,
Job 26:14)
Although Job's detractors were far
from kind to suffering Job, one of them, Zophar, does give eloquent
testimony of the Most High God declaring...
"Can you discover the depths of God?
Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? They are high as the
heavens, what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? Its measure is longer than the
earth, and broader than the sea. (Job
11:7-9)
Elihu another of Job's friends
declared...
Touching the Almighty, we cannot find
Him out; He is excellent in power; and to justice and plenteous
righteousness He does no violence [He will disregard no right]. [Our finite brains cannot figure out His judgments and why even though
they might not be clear to us, they are perfectly just and holy judgments.
(Amplified,
Job 37:23)
The psalmist declares that...
Clouds and thick darkness surround
Him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. (Psalms
97:2) (Spurgeon's
Note)
C S Lewis wrote that
Amiable agnostics will talk
cheerfully about ‘man’s search for God.’ To me as I then was, they might
as well have talked about the man’s search for a cat. (Surprised by
Joy)
AND UNFATHOMABLE HIS WAYS: kai anexichniastoi ai hodoi autou:
Unfathomable (421)
(anexichniastos from a = without + exichniázo =
explore, to trace out) means that which cannot be traced out, which is past finding out
and thus which is impossible to comprehend. It describes that which is
impossible of understanding by human minds. Fathomless.
The only other NT use of
anexichniastos
is also by Paul in Ephesians 3 where he writes that...
To me, the very least of all
saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable
riches of Christ (See note
Ephesians 3:8)
(See related topic:
Incomprehensible)
(Play the song
Do You Not
Know?)
He has made everything
appropriate (KJV = beautiful) in its time. He has also set eternity in
their heart (Amplified = [a divinely implanted
sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun
but God alone can satisfy]), yet so that man will not find out (NIV =
fathom) the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.
(Ecclesiastes 3:11)
F L Godet comments that...
These two orders (God's judgments and
ways) of things are characterized by the most extraordinary epithets
which the most pliant of languages can furnish: anexereunetos
, what cannot be searched to the bottom; anexichniastos"
, the traces of which cannot be followed to the end. The former of these
epithets applies to the supreme principle which the mind seeks to
approach, but which it does not reach; the latter to an abundance of
ramifications and of details in execution which the understanding cannot
follow to the end. These epithets are often quoted with the view of
demonstrating the incomprehensibility to man of the divine decrees, and
in particular of that of predestination (Aug.). But it must not be
forgotten that St. Paul's exclamation is called forth, not by the
obscurity of God's plans, but, on the contrary, by their dazzling
clearness. If they are incomprehensible and unfathomable, it is to man's
natural understanding, and until they have been revealed; but, says the
apostle, 1 Cor. 2:10. “God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for
the Spirit searcheth ( ereuna ) all things, even the deep things (ta
bathe) of God.” It is therefore in view of the unveiled mystery that the
exclamation is raised, as is done by Paul here: “O the depth of the
riches!” A fact which does not prevent the mind which understands them
in part from having always to discover in them new laws or applications.
John Piper comments that...
"Education about God precedes and serves exultation in God.
Learning truth precedes loving truth. Right reflection on God precedes
right affection for God. Seeing the glory of Christ precedes savoring
the glory of Christ. Good theology is the foundation of great doxology.
Knowledge is utterly crucial. But it is not an end in itself. It serves
faith and love. And if it doesn't, it only puffs up, as Paul says in
1Co8:1.Where education does not produce heartfelt exultation in God, it
degenerates into proud intellectualism. And where exultation is not
sustained and shaped by solid Biblical education, it degenerates into
proud emotionalism. God means to be known and loved. Seen and savored.
Pondered and praised. " (Sermon)
Ray Stedman
addressing God's "unfathomable...
ways" writes that...
it is clear from Scripture that
nothing God ever planned interferes with human responsibility. Nothing
God has ever said will happen in any way infringes on our free will or
choice. We are free to make choices. We know it. We feel ourselves free
to decide to do this or that, to do good or bad. Nothing God ever plans
interferes with that freedom of human choice. And yet the amazing thing
is that nothing humans ever do can frustrate God's sovereign plan. Isn't
that amazing? How can you explain that? No matter what we do, whether we
choose this or that with the freedom of choice we have, ultimately it
all works out to accomplish what God has determined shall be done. That
is the kind of God we have. Paul is not only impressed with God's
inscrutable wisdom and ways, but he contrasts it with the impotence of
man. He asks three very searching questions. If you have trouble with
this, try to answer his questions: His first one is, "Who has known the
mind of the Lord?" What he is asking is, "Who has ever anticipated what
God is going to do?" Have you? Have you ever been able to figure out how
God is going to handle the situations you get into? Oh, we all try, but
it never turns out quite the way we think it will, does it? There is a
little twist to it that we never could have guessed. (Our
Great and Glorious God)
J. B. Phillips wrote a book a number of years ago entitled
Your God Is Too Small exposing views of God that we all
hold to that are woefully inadequate. The "Cosmic Policeman"- the view
of God that he is standing around every corner just waiting for us to
slip up with respect to the law. Or the "indulgent old man" - a little
senile but very friendly, or the "frantic manager" - he’s got sweat on
his brow because the world is such a mess and he is trying to hold it
all together, or the "parental hangover" - all the warts and scars in
your parent’s lives that you project unto God. Every single one of us
here this morning has skewed views of God. Views of God that are skewed
because of our background, and our experiences or perhaps just simply
because of our ignorance. And we don’t realize that we are actually
worshipping an idol. Much of our lives and much of our time is spent
worshipping a figment of our own imaginations and what we fail to
realize is that God exists independently of our views of him. The God
who is there exists as he is regardless of our woefully, inadequate
views of him. And our goal as Christians ought to be to bring our
understanding of God in line with the truth of who he really is.
Henry G Bosch writes the
following devotional entitled "God's Ways" in Our Daily Bread...
After Elijah (1 Kings 17:1-16) had
experienced some especially trying times, the Lord told him to flee to
Zarephath where he could find food and shelter. Imagine Elijah's
surprise when he discovered that the widow who was to provide for him
was extremely poor! In fact, she expected that she and her son would
soon die of starvation.
How often God delights to astonish us by the wonder of His ways! Our
limited understanding of Him can be likened to a fly crawling on one of
the great pillars of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. What does that tiny
insect know about the architect's magnificent design? It sees only the
little space of stone on which it moves. The beautiful carvings and
ornamental work seem like towering mountains and deep valleys that only
impede progress and obscure the view.
We as Christians often see only our immediate circumstances and perceive
but a glimmer of God's marvelous purpose. The obstacles that block our
vision and get in the way of our plans are actually part of the
beautiful designs of divine grace.
Our heavenly Father knows exactly
what He is doing. Although His ways are unsearchable, He assures us that
all will work out for our good if we trust Him. (Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
God's ways and judgments baffle those
Who do not see His perfect plan;
But those who trust His saving grace,
With wonder all His actions scan!-- H G B
God may conceal the purpose of His
ways, but His ways are not without purpose.
There was an article in Psychology Today several years ago that noted
that in spite of the claims that our society has become Godless,
ninety-five percent of the representative sample said that actually
believed in God. What has changed are not people’s affirmations of God,
but their belief about him. The study asked these people what they
thought about God by asking them several questions concerning what God
was like and giving an option of answers. The conclusion of the study
was that people had images of God today that are totally different than
how the Bible portrays him.
The hymn, "Lord, My Weak
Thought in Vain Would Climb", by Ray Palmer puts into verse the
essence of Romans 11:33 (play
hymn)
Lord, my weak
thought in vain would climb
To search the starry vault profound;
In vain would wing her flight sublime
To find creation’s utmost bound.
But weaker yet that thought must prove
To search Thy great eternal plan,
Thy sovereign counsels, born of love
Long ages ere the world began.
When my dim reason would demand
Why that, or this, Thou dost ordain,
By some vast deep I seem to stand,
Whose secrets I must ask in vain.
When doubts disturb my troubled breast,
And all is dark as night to me,
Here, as on solid rock, I rest—
That so it seemeth good to Thee.
Be this my joy, that evermore
Thou rulest all things at Thy will;
Thy sovereign wisdom I adore,
And calmly, sweetly, trust Thee still. |