Letter to the Galatians -- Intro
There is a huge temptation for man to inquire into the nature of God. This cannot be overstated and it is very important that seize hold of this curiosity inside of us. There is a very real and extreme danger when man probes into God’s nature, for we will unwittingly extrapolate beyond what He has made known to come to our own final conclusions. God Himself tells us that know one may see Him and live, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). Scripture also plainly tells us that God is unfathomable and is completely outside of the grasp of our reason and intellect. “They cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). “His understanding no one can fathom” (Isaiah 40:28). “He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. When he passes me, I cannot see him; when he goes by, I cannot perceive him. If he snatches away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’…How then can I dispute with him? How can I find words to argue with him?” (Job 9:10-12, 14). “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea” (Job 11:7-9). This indicates very clearly that if we curiously probe into the nature of God that we will never come out with a correct understanding. The mysteries of God simply cannot be understood; for how can a creation understand its Creator?
So now we must ask, what can we know about God and where are we to find Him? We know God only thru His clear and explicit revelation to us. We do not find God; He finds us and reveals exactly what He desires. This revelation is Christ Jesus our Lord. It is only in Jesus Christ that we can know and see any part of God. He is the Mediator that stands between us and the Father, so we must cling solely to Jesus Christ and refuse to let our sinful nature inquire beyond Him. Jesus Christ was very clear about this, “No one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). It is only thru Jesus Christ that the Father is revealed to us at all. There can be no understanding of God our Father apart from Jesus Christ, the very Son of God. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well…Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:6-7, 9). We must limit our curiosity to Jesus Christ for it is in knowing Him that we in fact come to know the Father. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (John 8:20).
When we are simply being “philosophical” we can be as profound as we like when discussing the nature of God. However, a very dangerous error arises in the fact that men take this mere speculation and rationalization and attempt to create theology from it. This speculative theology of men then lays a false foundation for all understanding of God; instead of looking to Jesus Christ and His revelation in Scripture as the only foundation, men try to begin their theology with God the Father and His nature thru their speculation. What this does is completely undermine the Truth of justification; it destroys the true Message that God brings to us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must look at God’s awesome grace in justification solely in the light of Jesus Christ crucified and the penalty of sins He paid and the subsequent righteousness He bought for us on the Cross. God came down from heaven in Christ Jesus in order to seek and to save the lost. Let us forget all the speculation on the power, wisdom, and majesty of God Almighty, for here before us we have God humbled as a Man, suffering and dying for the forgiveness of our sins. It is this that we know about the nature of God, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
So now we must ask, what can we know about God and where are we to find Him? We know God only thru His clear and explicit revelation to us. We do not find God; He finds us and reveals exactly what He desires. This revelation is Christ Jesus our Lord. It is only in Jesus Christ that we can know and see any part of God. He is the Mediator that stands between us and the Father, so we must cling solely to Jesus Christ and refuse to let our sinful nature inquire beyond Him. Jesus Christ was very clear about this, “No one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). It is only thru Jesus Christ that the Father is revealed to us at all. There can be no understanding of God our Father apart from Jesus Christ, the very Son of God. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well…Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:6-7, 9). We must limit our curiosity to Jesus Christ for it is in knowing Him that we in fact come to know the Father. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (John 8:20).
When we are simply being “philosophical” we can be as profound as we like when discussing the nature of God. However, a very dangerous error arises in the fact that men take this mere speculation and rationalization and attempt to create theology from it. This speculative theology of men then lays a false foundation for all understanding of God; instead of looking to Jesus Christ and His revelation in Scripture as the only foundation, men try to begin their theology with God the Father and His nature thru their speculation. What this does is completely undermine the Truth of justification; it destroys the true Message that God brings to us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must look at God’s awesome grace in justification solely in the light of Jesus Christ crucified and the penalty of sins He paid and the subsequent righteousness He bought for us on the Cross. God came down from heaven in Christ Jesus in order to seek and to save the lost. Let us forget all the speculation on the power, wisdom, and majesty of God Almighty, for here before us we have God humbled as a Man, suffering and dying for the forgiveness of our sins. It is this that we know about the nature of God, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
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