What does it mean that God is infinite?

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True Bible Answers · Accepted Answer

The infinity of God is a truth that runs deeper than human language can fully express. Scripture applies the word "infinite" to God in specific ways, and the writers draw out its meaning across several dimensions — His understanding, His perfections, His thoughts, His resources, and His very being. The Word Itself Morrish's Bible Dictionary identifies two Hebrew roots behind the English word "infinite": 1. en mispar, 'no number:' only applied to the understanding of the Lord. Ps. 147:5. 2. en qets, 'no end.' Eliphaz, quite unintelligent as to Job's case, said there was 'no end' of his iniquities. Job 22:5. There was 'no end' to the strength of Ethiopia and Egypt in supporting the city No; yet it was carried away: so would God's judgements fall upon Nineveh. Nahum 3:8-9. Morrish's Bible Dictionary Notably, the first sense — no number — is reserved exclusively for God's understanding. When Scripture says God is infinite, it points first to the fact that His understanding has no measure. Infinite Understanding L. M. Grant comments on Psalm 147:5 with striking directness: His understanding is infinite — absolutely unlimited. Our own understanding is so greatly limited that we cannot understand how it is possible to have an unlimited understanding. Yet if we take our place of nothingness before God, bowing down to the dust, He most graciously lifts us up. L. M. Grant The humility of the creature before the infinite God is the only fitting posture. We cannot grasp what it means to know all things without limit — but that very inability is itself a window into the gap between the finite and the Infinite. Infinite Perfection Morrish also writes of God's infinity in connection with His glory — the sum of all His attributes: Glory belongs to God: He is the God of glory. Acts 7:2; 2 Cor. 4:6, 15. In Him all the divine attributes shine in infinite perfection. Christians in acknowledging this, and owning that from Him come all their blessings, joyfully ascribe unto Him "Praise and honour, glory and power, for ever and ever." Every attribute of God — His holiness, love, righteousness, power, wisdom — exists in Him without limit or defect. They do not merely exist; they shine in infinite perfection. Infinite in Holiness and Power An article in the Bible Treasury reminds us that God's infinity encompasses His moral nature: Nor is it unwholesome to remind ourselves again and again that God is infinite in holiness as in power. For such reflection need in no wise dim our perception of the characteristic relationships into which grace has introduced us in Christ. F. W. Hole, commenting on Genesis 1:27, draws the same contrast from a different angle — the distance between God's infinite holiness and man's original innocence: Man was really like God in certain important respects. Not in all respects of course, for God is infinitely holy and man was merely innocent. Still man was God's "offspring" (Acts 17:28-29), a spirit being, though clothed in a body of flesh and blood, and hence with intelligence and moral sensibilities, which are a reflection of that which subsists on an infinite scale in God Himself. F. W. Hole Even the best qualities in man are only reflections of what exists "on an infinite scale" in God. Man's intelligence and moral sense are real, but they are finite echoes of an infinite reality. God's Thoughts — Beyond All Human Systems F. W. Hole, commenting on Psalm 40, addresses a practical consequence of God's infinity: There has always been a great desire with many to reduce the truth of God to a philosophic system, everything duly ticketed and pigeonholed according to the most approved schemes of human logic and wisdom. Every such attempt is bound to result in error, because starting with the supreme error of assuming that what is infinite in its bearing can be confined within human boundaries. This can no more be done than the rolling seas can be compressed into the largest of human measures. F. W. Hole The infinity of God's thoughts means they can be apprehended — grasped in part — but never fully comprehended. This is not an obstacle to faith; it is the very character of what it means to know the Infinite. The Breadth and Length and Depth and Height R. Duncanson, expounding Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3, links infinity to the glory into which believers are introduced: It is as we enter into the practical reality of these things that we shall be "able to apprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height." The heavenly City has definite measurements, but here we have what is infinite and unfathomable. We are introduced into a scene of divine glory, of which the Father is the source. R. Duncanson The "breadth and length and depth and height" of Ephesians 3 has no stated object — it is deliberately open-ended, pointing to dimensions of divine glory that are infinite and unfathomable. Infinite Resources in Christ Wm. C. Reid draws a deeply practical application: What infinite resources of wisdom and grace are available for us in Christ, so that no matter how great our difficulties are, no matter how great the weakness and confusion of the last days, no circumstance or combination of circumstances need find us without the help of Him Who can resolve every difficulty for us. Wm. C. Reid And R. F. Westcott, considering the Son's person and work, poses the question and then answers it: Who are we, that we can sit down and ponder the Deity, the Supreme Being? What material have we on the basis of which we may draw conclusions as to the infinite and eternal God?...supposing such an One come down, unaided and unasked for reasons of His own, to apply all His infinite resources of wisdom and power and love to the sin question, what must be the result for Himself first, and then for those who believe upon Him? R. F. Westcott Unsearchable and Past Finding Out L. M. Grant closes his meditation on Romans 11 with Paul's doxology before the infinity of God's ways: "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all" (Romans 11:32). This humbling, yet becoming conclusion of the ways of God in regard to Israel causes the apostle Paul to exclaim from an adoring heart "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" (Romans 11:33). L. M. Grant To say that God is infinite means that everything He is — His understanding, His holiness, His power, His love, His wisdom — exists without boundary, without deficiency, and without end. The Hebrew word applied to His understanding (en mispar) literally means "no number" — there is no scale on which He can be measured. His attributes do not merely exceed human capacity; they operate "on an infinite scale," as Hole puts it, of which our best qualities are dim reflections. This has two great practical consequences. First, no human system can contain His truth — every attempt to compress the infinite God into a formula will fall short, just as the rolling seas cannot be poured into a measuring cup. We may apprehend, but never comprehend. Second, His infinite resources are available to His people in Christ. Because all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily and believers are complete in Him, there is no difficulty, no weakness, no circumstance that can exhaust what God is and has for those who trust Him.

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