The indefinable God revealed to man

When we speak of God we do only because he allows us to. We cannot speak of God on our own terms because him who we end up speaking of is not the creator but a reflection of us creatures. Rather the God who speaks and acts is the only source to refer to him. He speaks by doing and does by speaking so his word is a dynamic utterance that knows no bounds. He is the one who said “I am who I am” (Ex. 3:14). The name `ehyeh,  I am, is  preceded by an explanation: `ehyeh `aser `ehyeh, I am who I am, suggesting to some a participial nuance compounding the meaning and taking it beyond its simple possibilities. He is the God who is exceedingly more than we can define or grasp or put in a mold.

His appearance in “man’s history” is an act of revelation by which he plans to show himself in terms and acts known to mankind because without this graceful initiative God could not be comprehend in any other way. So God speaks and acts in a world that is of his making, of his keeping and it is his will to reveal himself in it and by it. The indescribable God by an act of his grace comes within the reach of words: the unutterable becomes known; the inexpressible becomes describable in our praises. God has made himself known!

Man’s history is also a source of deception because it is not actually of his making. Man is a thief that shamelessly takes history and makes it his own. This plagiarism that makes man the author of history purports to explain the world as a lost un-authored manuscript that man claims to have found and restored to sell as his own. As many have said God’s history is in all reality “his-story.” History becomes a source of deception when God is taken out of it because in every corner of revelation we understand that God meant always to make history the natural ambience of God’s words and acts.

Faith is the corollary of his knowledge. Heavens, nature and the world in general are divine testimonies not very clear for the busy and hyperactive culture that has learned to hide his questions about God. Furthermore, man has decided to avoid any contact with that which he cannot fully master. He has also silenced every statement or witness that he cannot use for his endless needs and desires. Faith is lost among this myriad of adult caprices. The Gospel the message that by its meaning brings good tidings is hushed by man as a meaningless word not to be spoken. “When the Son of Man returns will he find faith on earth?” 

This has rendered the word God meaningless. It seems that the World and the Church have much in common when they have not room for the most important issues of life: God and mankind as an expression of God’s image. Yet, at the same time, both the World and the Church have a consuming passion for magic, the culture of novelty and the superficial luxuries of human excitement. Men abandoned faith, hope and love without ever tasting the joy of knowing God, partaking in the adventure of trusting him and sharing in the thrill of loving him. This worldly sentiment displaces the meaning of God and by the same token dislocates the very meaning of life.

God is reflected in man yet is totally different to him. Man is a reflection of God yet is wholly dependant upon him. Just as Christ is the very presence of God yet he is a different person than the father; and at the same time the Son of Man is also our redeemer yet he is completely dependent on the father to accept his eternal sacrifice. The anselmian question Cur Deus homo? is a summary of the Gospel that brings together man and God at the incarnation, for reconciliation and for justification by grace.

And it is because of this coming together in him, that the Gospel is also a translation of the word “God” in all its beauty and dept, since the best definition of God is Christ who was born, lived and died for our sins under Pontius Pilatus, and was raised on the third day as an irruption of God’s power on mankind, starting with Christ the first fruits. This is the essence of who God is, and of what we must believe and practice in order to live out faith, hope and love along with the good works that must follow those who believe.