What are the implications of God being infinite, unlimited, and unmeasurable?
The question of God's infinity — His being beyond all creaturely measure — runs deep through Scripture and is taken up with great seriousness by these writers. Several far-reaching implications flow from it.
1. Man Cannot Discover God by His Own Effort
The ancient question posed by Zophar — "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?" (Job 11:7) — establishes a foundational truth. William Kelly comments on this passage:
William Kelly"Nobody can; God must reveal Himself." … "There is no doubt about His power, no limit to it."
T.B. Mawson traces the same thread, noting how Athanasius himself confessed that "whenever he forced his understanding to meditate on the Divinity of the Logos, his toilsome and unavailing efforts recoiled on themselves; that the more he thought the less he comprehended; and the more he wrote, the less capable was he of expressing his thoughts." Mawson adds:
T.B. Mawson"We do not wonder at that when we consider the immeasurable greatness of the Subject and the limited capacity of man's understanding."
And further:
"If the things of God are outside man's range how infinitely above him must God Himself — the Father and His Son — be! And yet we must know Him; the awakened soul is conscious that all its blessing lies in the knowledge of God, and pants for this knowledge as the hart pants for the water brooks."
The poet Henry Wilson captures this in verse:
Henry WilsonCanst thou by searching find The Almighty God? Can puny man Take in the One who was ere time began, With his own finite mind? … So it would seem that puny finite man Can never scan Or know the mighty God, who fills eternity.
Since God is infinite and we are finite, no amount of human research, philosophy, or intellectual effort can arrive at the knowledge of God. He must come to us.
2. God's Infinity Demands a Divine Saviour — The Necessity of the Incarnation
If God is infinite in holiness and man is sinful, the distance between them is not merely great — it is unmeasurable. This is precisely the word Job used. T.B. Mawson unfolds Job's cry for a "daysman" (Job 9:33–35) with remarkable clarity:
"He said in effect: 'I know that I have sinned against Him, and if He were a man as I am, I could … go to Him and make restitution … But He is not a man as I am, and I cannot measure the demands of His justice against me. The gulf between us is unmeasurable from my side; He is almighty, holy and just, and I am weak, sinful and unholy, and there is no one that I know of to stand betwixt us, who could speak from Him to me, and from me to Him.'"
Mawson draws out the unavoidable conclusion:
"He must be equal to God and equal to men. … He must be God's equal; pure as God is pure, holy as God is holy, great as God is great: no one less could intervene, or be of any use in this supreme matter to Job or to any other man. Yet He must come low enough to put His hand upon men. … He must be God and man."
Because God is infinite, no finite creature — however exalted — could bridge the gap. Only One who is Himself God could meet the infinite demands of divine righteousness, and only One who is truly man could represent men. This is the deepest implication of God's infinity: it made the incarnation of the Son of God an absolute necessity.
3. God's Infinite Holiness Cannot Compromise with Sin
God's infinity means His holiness is not merely high — it is absolute and unchangeable. T.B. Mawson writes:
T.B. Mawson"God will maintain His supremacy and abide forever and without change in His infinite and unsullied holiness, and all His ways will be in absolute and unchallengeable righteousness."
He adds that if God were to wink at sin, "an awakened conscience would be morally greater and better than He, and the devil would take advantage of His weakness and seize His throne."
Atonement by blood is therefore not optional — it is the necessary expression of God's infinite character meeting the infinite problem of sin.
4. God's Infinite Love and Grace Are Equally Boundless
If God is infinite, then when He acts in love and grace, those too are without limit. An anonymous writer "R." in The Bible Treasury (1878), meditating on "the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph. 3:8), traces this with great force:
"R.""Never, surely, can we lose sight of the fact that we are finite vessels; but what is of moment is to observe that the Holy Ghost is a wonderfully expansive power, and He dwells in a singularly expansive vessel. It is no marvel, then, that as He fills the vessel it enlarges by the divine afflatus, as in Ephesians 3:16 — the Holy Ghost in the inner man, and Christ in the heart, we apprehend the immeasurable height, and length, and depth, and breadth, and we know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that we might be filled even unto all the fulness of God!"
"God delights to bring our finiteness into constant contact with His infinitude, and not only all we ask, but all we think, He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above! What vessels of blessedness and of blessing would His heart delight to make us!"
God's blessing, he says, is:
"As immeasurable as the excellency of Christ; as illimitable as the Father's delight in Him."
Christian blessing is not parcelled out in measured doses — it corresponds to the infinite worth of Christ Himself.
5. God's Infinity Is Revealed in Christ, Not in Abstract Theology
Samuel Ridout captures the paradox of God's infinity meeting human need:
Samuel Ridout"God is infinitely merciful and compassionate beyond our comprehension, yet in His holy, consuming presence none dare enter save as divinely entitled."
T.B. Mawson shows that revelation cannot come through nature, philosophy, or law — only through the Son:
T.B. Mawson"No man has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."
Henry Wilson brings this full circle — after acknowledging that nature and the starry sky leave the heart "ungratified," he turns to Christ:
Henry WilsonThen Philip speaks this word— 'Show us the Father, Lord,' And thus the Lord replies with voice serene 'He that hath seen Me, hath the Father seen.' O wondrous, glorious mystery, that God, The eternal God, Has revealed Himself in this our earthly scene.
6. The Church Displays the Infinite Wisdom of God
J.N. Darby notes that even the angels — who had already witnessed God's power in creation — are given a fresh window into His infinity through the Church:
J.N. Darby"The Church was to supply them with quite a fresh manifestation of the depths of the counsels and wisdom of the infinite God whom they adore."
Synthesis
The infinity of God, far from being an abstract theological concept, touches every part of the Christian faith. Because God is infinite, man cannot reach Him by searching — God must reveal Himself. Because God's holiness is infinite, no finite sacrifice could atone for sin — only the blood of One who is Himself God. Because the gulf between an infinite God and sinful man is unmeasurable, only a Person who is both God and man could bridge it — hence the absolute necessity of the incarnation. And because God's love and grace are as infinite as His holiness, the blessing that flows to believers through Christ is immeasurable, illimitable, and inexhaustible — "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." The infinite God has not remained hidden; He has come near in Christ, so that finite creatures might know Him, be reconciled to Him, and be filled "even unto all the fulness of God."