Underlying the whole revelation of Scripture, the obvious or hidden reason for all doctrine, and the goal of all

prophecy, is the knowledge of God Himself. At bottom, sin is an ignoring or an ignorance of God, a denial of God,

a substitute of something else for Him. If we meditate upon the purpose of redemption, the basis of righteousness or

sanctification, the glory of heaven, the blessedness of hope, we shall be led at length to see that the knowledge of

God Himself and love to Him lie close to the heart of them all, and that every line of truth in Scripture converges

upon the statement: `That God may be all in all'. We propose, therefore, to prosecute a series of studies that shall

enable us to repeat, with meaning, the words of the Psalmist:

`This God is our God' (Psa. 48:14).

Into the metaphysical side of such a study, we do not propose to enter, except that we draw attention to the

importance of estimating the magnitude of the subject, and correspondingly, our own limitations. If a finite creature

could, in the full sense of the word, really `know' God, then God would cease to be `infinite', and not the God of

Scripture. All knowledge of God, however we receive it, whether through the dim light of nature, the brighter light

of Scripture, or in the Person of Christ, must be relative and conditioned. We cannot know God at all unless He

reveals Himself, and unless in that revelation He condescends to our low estate, and speaks in human terms. So far

as the nature and attributes of God are concerned, we must remember that the whole of language is symbolic, and

that in every utterance concerning Himself, the revelation is limited by the necessity of using human forms of

thought. Perhaps some reader may, at this point, object that we are wasting time in speaking of metaphysics at all -

if the Scripture reveals all that we can apprehend of the infinite and eternal God, surely this is sufficient for our

needs, and the metaphysics may well be left alone. With the attitude of our critic we are in complete agreement; and

if we were never tempted to pursue lines of teaching beyond Scriptural limits, nothing more need be said. But the

question is an important one, because whole systems of theology are built up upon what it is conceived God will do,

or should do, or even must do. Such arguments assume a knowledge of God that lies outside the scope of revelation.

We may remind ourselves of the question of Zophar, the Naamathite:

`Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?' (Job 11:7).

The answer to both questions must be negative. We cannot find out God by searching. We are shut up to

revelation and know nothing, absolutely nothing, apart from that one source; and what we do know, however

penetrating our perceptions or large our faith, will never `find out the Almighty unto perfection' - we shall still only

`know in part'. Yet we must by no means allow these limitations to damp our enthusiasm or quench our eagerness,

for Scripture itself urges us to pray that we may get to know something that in reality transcends our knowledge - the

love of Christ (Eph. 3:19). Such a statement involves neither contradiction nor impossibility.

At the threshold of our study, we have to face the fact that the Scriptures do not set out to prove the existence of

God. This fact is assumed in the opening verse of Genesis, and in every mention of God to the last chapter of

Revelation. Human logic and the human mind are inadequate to deal with this problem, and if we attempt it within

the limits of human philosophy, we may soon find ourselves driven to atheism. Within the limits of our own

experience, and the universal experience that underlies all human knowledge and thought, it is true that that which

never had a beginning cannot now exist. But if we attempt to apply this kind of reasoning to the question of the

existence of God, where will it lead us?

Again, it is only too true in our experience, that no person can be in two or more distinct places at the same time

- yet this is manifestly untrue of God.

The metaphysician must ever feel that the God he seeks is infinitely beyond him. All human knowledge is

inadequate. God is invisible to our physical senses; He cannot be pictured or imagined. And our knowledge of Him

must be indirect. Even Scripture, or the manifestation of God in Christ, involves a translation of the ineffable into

the lower terms of the human.