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

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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)