Morning worship...
"Bless YHWH, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless YHWH, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits..." (Ps 103:1-2)
I am becoming increasingly convinced that there is a kernel of truth in postconservative theologies like open theism and its ecclesiastical stepchild, the emerging church. They portray God as "essentially" love. IOW, God's main attribute is love (or, rather, his essence is love), and his other attributes are just various perspectives on his love. After a recent study of Exodus 33-34, I believe that they are partially right in this observation.
This is not the tired old theological question about whether God has a primary attribute, and if so, what that might be. I'm convinced that postconservatives (still a current term, BTW) have once again raised a good question, introduced some of the right evidence, then drawn the wrong conclusion.
When God "showed his glory" to Moses in Exodus 34:5-7, he did not do it primarily with bright lights and loud noises (although those were probably involved). He revealed his nature by proclaiming his attributes. And what attributes did he proclaim? "YHWH God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, who forgives sin, iniquity and transgression; yet who also judges sin." God revealed himself to Moses in such a way that Moses' first thoughts of God would be thoughts of love, grace, and mercy. Israel seems to have understood this, for this same description of God appears eight times in the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures, spanning all genres (Law, Writings, Prophets) and the entire chronology of the Old Testament (1800-445 BC).
One of those eight times is here in Ps 103 (v.8). In fact, the whole psalm could be seen as a musing on Exodus 34:6-7, for it present huge, astonishing descriptions of God's goodness and grace (his "benefits"), and works in his sovereign rule of the universe only at the end. We in "calvinistic" circles have perhaps overemphasized God's sovereignty and moral holiness when we paint a portrait of God, resulting in a somewhat muted picture drawn in severe lines. Not that these things aren't important, for they are attributes of God just as love is, and are therefore no less descriptive of who he is.
But apparently, when we think of God, God wants us to think of love. How does this change my "first thought" of God? How does this affect what it means for me to "fear" him? I'm still thinking this thru...
Thursday, June 30, 2005
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4 comments:
Many theologians speak of God's essential holiness as the sum of his perfections. Thus God is holy = God is God. That's pretty basic. So is holiness primary or love? Or is it possible that "God is holy" is a different kind of attribute from "God is love"?
I agree with you that "God is love" is far-reaching and we need to think this through more in our lives. Jonah certainly was confronted with how radical this reality is. He knew that God is "gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love." But he couldn't stomach this kind of God loving the violent terrorists of his day. I too need to be reminded to match my practice with my knowledge of God's love.
Hi Wayne, thanks for your comment.
I agree with other theologians who have come to see the holiness of God as something other than an attribute as traditionally considered, i.e., as one attribute among others. The biblical words for holiness (esp Hebrew) denote something that is separate from all else - something that is set apart. It is an affirmation of God's otherness - God is "high and lifted up."
This ontological otherness (what we might call "majesty holiness") then gives rise to his moral otherness ("purity holiness") which I understand to be closely related to or the same as his attribute of righteousness. Thus we have the call to "be holy as I am holy."
So, bottom line, I would consider God's holiness as an affirmation of his distinctiveness and not one attribute among others.
Nothing like the word "ontological" waking you up in the morning...
I've got to tell you, Andy, ever since you mentioned the gist of this post at chili last week it's been on my mind. I think it hit home so hard because I'm so used to overcompensating for a lack of emphasis on God's justice in my upbringing. Running away from the seeker-sensitive "God is love" has definitely done some damage to my view of God, and this is something that made me take stock of my interactive Theology Proper. Theology is life, after all...
...which serves to remind us all that theological conversation has traditionally been a series of pendulum swings, momentarily passing the biblical center on its way to one extreme or another. It's a challenge we all face - strive to be biblical, not systematic, "effective," relevant, or whatever. If you seek the biblical center, you will be all of those things in the right way and to the right degree.
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