Scripture reveals many of the attributes of God. We know, for example, that God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, transcendent, and immanent. These qualities can only be said of an infinite being. Let’s explore what it means that God is infinite.
How Is God Infinite?
At the outset, we have to understand the limitations of our concepts. Our concepts of love, knowledge, presence, and life are finite. They are limited by our experience of the world since we are finite beings living in a finite universe.
This means that any definition we try to apply to the attributes of God will be inadequate to express or define Him, since God is infinite and transcendent, being beyond the comprehension of the finite intellect. In a sense, God is an impenetrable mystery.
This is one of the reasons divine revelation is so important, as it provides us deeper insights into the nature, character, and will of God than is possible to arrive at simply through the exercise of our intellect as it observes the natural world and drawing from those lessons certain philosophical conclusions that seem reasonable and logical.
With that said, we possess such divine revelation in Scripture, which is where we can turn to understand, even if imperfectly, the attributes of God.
1. The omnipotence of God. The word comes to us from the Latin prefix omni (all) and potens (powerful). When we speak of something as being omnipotent, we are saying that it is unlimited in power.
In other words, God is able to do anything He wills that is in accord with His nature. You may have heard the rather childish question, “If God can do anything, can He make a rock so big that He can’t lift it?”
The answer is no since God cannot do anything that violates His own nature of omnipotence. If He could do so, then He would not be omnipotent (Job 42:2; Mark 10:27; Revelation 19:6).
2. God is omniscient. This word comes from the Latin sciens (to know) and omni (all). It refers to the quality of having unlimited knowledge.
Simply stated, God knows everything there is to know. The sum total of all actual and potential knowledge is the possession of God (Psalm 147:5; 1 John 3:20; Acts 1:24).
3. God is omnipresent. As the word clearly implies, God is everywhere, and as a result, capable of being encountered at all times.
This also means that there is no place that God’s power and presence are not felt (Jeremiah 23:23-24; Proverbs 15:3; 1 Kings 8:27; Psalm 139:7-10).
While this is not an exhaustive list of the attributes of God, it suffices to demonstrate what we mean by God as an infinite being.
What Does Infinity Mean?
The word infinity essentially means that something is without boundary, endless, and eternal. It is necessarily self-existing, since nothing that is contingent, like human beings, is self-existing. We rely on other things for our existence and the maintenance of that existence. Something that is infinite does not.
When we examine carefully each of the attributes of God listed above, one fundamental principle underlays all of them. That is, in order for a being to be unlimited in power (omnipotent), unlimited in knowledge (omniscient), and unlimited in presence (omnipresent), that being would of necessity have to be unlimited (without boundary, endless and eternal) by nature.
Thus, this being would be transcendent as well, being beyond all finite concepts, unfathomable, and unknowable without both Natural Revelation and Divine Revelation. Because we focus so much on a personal relationship with God (and rightly so), we quite often fail to recognize the infinite nature of God, and how much we don’t know about Him.
Even with all the revelations given in Scripture regarding His nature, character, attributes, will, love, etc., God is still a vast mystery. We say God is One and Triune at the same time, and we have some finite ways to attempt comprehension of that, but the truth is, as finite beings, all of our attempts to understand that truth fall far from a perfect understanding of the Trinity.
We get glimpses in Scripture, which certainly helps, but we cannot perfectly grasp the infinite God, who is, who was, and who is to come (Revelation 1:8; Revelation 4:8).
Rather than seeing this lack of comprehension as a negative, we should instead be content with the mystery of God’s infinite essence — the incomprehensible and inaccessible reality of God as infinite. Rev. George C. Papademetriou, an Orthodox priest, wrote:
“A prayer in the Divine Liturgy expresses it as follows:” ... for you are God ineffable, beyond comprehension, invisible, beyond understanding, existing forever and always the same ... A minor change in the rendition emphasizes the fundamental truth. God’s essence is totally “beyond” — beyond verbalization, beyond comprehension, beyond vision, beyond understanding.”
God’s infinite essence is why the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross was efficacious. If we consider the incredible number of sins that have been and will be committed in our world, a finite being like you, and I could never have made reparation for them.
What Is Infinite Sacrifice?
The total sum of sin required an infinite sacrifice. Thus, Jesus Christ, being a true God and a true Man, was the only person capable of making that reparation through the sacrifice of His own innocent life.
The infinite, all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere present, without boundary or limitation God loved you enough to suffer the just punishment for your sins.
That is the most important lesson regarding God’s infinite essence; the fact that He loved you so much (1 Peter 1:18-19; Romans 5:6-10; 1 John 2:2; John 1:29; John 15:3; Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 9:26; 1 Peter 2:23-24; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 2:9-10; John 3:16; Romans 5:1; Ephesians 1:7; Philippians 2:8). You can enjoy a personal relationship with the infinite God, through Jesus Christ.
Sources
An Orthodox Christian Review of Non-Christian Religions, article, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
For further reading:
What Does it Mean That God Is Omniscient?
What Does It Mean That God Is Omnipresent?
What Are All of the ‘I AM’ Statements of Jesus?
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/grakozy
J. Davila-Ashcraft is an Anglican priest, Theologian, and Apologist, and holds a B.A. in Biblical Studies and Theology from God’s Bible College in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a recognized authority on the topic of exorcism, and in that capacity has contributed to and/or appeared on programming for The National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, and CNN. He is the host of Expedition Truth, a one-hour apologetics radio talk show.
