Part 1: Prolegomena
“Behold your God!” Isaiah encourages us (Isa. 40:9). Paul explains that beholding the Lord’s glory sanctifies us–transforms us into his image “from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:18). And Jesus himself prays to his Father that his people would be sanctified “in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).
As biblical and Christian counselors, sometimes we can read lots and lots of great books and articles about counseling, but never really get down deep into the theologically rich “whys” that uphold the counseling “whats”. And that’s not just unfortunate, it’s dangerous.
|
So then, why?
One area in which I’ve yet to see much focused discussion related to counseling is that of theology proper, which includes our understanding of God’s attributes. I especially haven’t seen this carefully explained from the perspective of classical Christian theism. [1] But no topic could be more foundational to our faith, and as a consequence, to our counseling. What questions could be more vital than, “Who is God?” and “What’s he like?” The answers to those questions will inevitably reverberate into every nook and cranny of our hearts, lives, and ministries.
That being said, I thought it would be helpful to write a short series of articles on counseling God’s attributes.
But we can’t turn to just any old place to find out who God is and what he’s like. That’s an extra special job, requiring an extra special voice, with extra special wisdom and authority. We don’t get to just make this stuff up. If we’re to have any true understanding of God, then we must hear from God himself. After all, only God’s Spirit is able to search “everything, even the depths of God” (1 Cor. 2:10). So we turn first and foremost to his perfect Word in the Holy Scriptures. But we’ll also consult secondarily with many gifted and faithful saints across the ages in whom the Spirit has worked powerfully.
|
Foundations of the Foundations
If beholding our God is foundational to our practical ministry, then there are a couple of truths that I want to highlight from the start as things to be assumed in every subsequent article moving forward.
The first is that God is uniquely holy. He is most holy. That is, God is holy in a way beyond all other things that can be deemed holy, and he would be just as immeasurably holy if those other things never existed. Most essentially, when one speaks of God’s holiness, it means that he is altogether separate, above, and beyond. He is set apart, sacred, transcendent. He is majestic, pure, and perfect. He is highest and best–supreme and absolute in greatness. In a word, he is other. In fact, he’s beyond holy. He is holy, holy, holy!
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isa. 6:3).
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Rev. 4:8).
God can be described in many tremendous ways, but no other description in all of Scripture comes with this thrice-repeated statement about his character. God is never described as “Love, love, love” or “Justice, justice, justice” or “Merciful, merciful, merciful” or any other good and right description of his nature. [2]
Repetition in the Bible is meant to convey emphasis. But nothing is as important as those things which are given in repetitions of three. “To mention something three times in succession is to elevate it to the superlative degree, to attach to it emphasis of superimportance.” [3]
This is crucial for our purposes for a number of reasons, but in particular, because each and every attribute of God we discuss should be understood in light of God’s incomparable holiness.
Which brings me to my second point, which is what’s been often termed the Creator-creature distinction. That is, there is nothing more foundational to the way we think of God than that he is not like us. He is the Creator and everything else is his creation. He is in a consecrate league all his own.
“God, having all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself, is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creature which He hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them; He alone is the fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things”. [4]
Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, Ch. 2, Art. 2
For example, his wisdom is a thrice-holy kind of wisdom. The same is true of his power. His righteousness, of supremely perfect caliber. The list could go on. We as God’s image bearers can at times reflect and display his attributes, but never to the infinite and impeccable degree that he does. God is not some bigger, better version of us–he is sublime.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9).
It’s been said that we, both being creatures, have more in common with the angels that surround God’s throne in heaven, than we do with God our Creator–and that’s exactly right! The astonishing mystery of salvation for all those who are in Christ is that this thrice-holy God would humble himself to take on sinless manhood, suffer and die for our sins, credit to us his righteousness, and resurrect victoriously to grant us eternal life with him. Even now he always lives to intercede for the saints, and when the time is right, he will return to receive us into eternal glory.
This is the glorious promise of the gospel. To neglect it is our doom, but to accept this free gift means every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph. 1:3)–now in part, and one day in full consummation. I pray that as we behold our God together in this series of articles, that these invincible truths would be evermore impressed upon your heart in worship of the One who deserves all praise and honor. I also pray that you wouldn’t keep them to yourself, but that you would allow these remarkable truths to both shape and color the very counsel you provide to others.
Thanks for joining me. And may he open our eyes to behold wonderful things (Psa. 119:18).
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
[1] Dolezal, James E. All That Is In God: Evangelical Theology and the Challenge of Classical Christian Theism. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2017. Dolezal summarizes on p. 1 what is meant by this terminology: “The approach of classical Christian theism is what one discovers in older Protestant confessions such as the Belgic Confession, Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, Westminster Confession of Faith, and Second London Confession of Faith. This approach is basically in keeping with the view of God as found in the works of patristic and medieval Christian theologians such as Athanasius, Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas. It is marked by a strong commitment to the doctrines of divine aseity, immutability, impassibility, simplicity, eternity, and the substantial unity of the divine persons. The underlying and inviolable conviction is that God does not derive any aspect of His being from outside Himself and is not in any way caused to be.” [2] Sproul, R. C. The Holiness Of God (Revised and Expanded). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 1998. p. 26. [3] Ibid., p. 25. [4] 1689 Baptist Confession Of Faith & the 1695 Baptist Catechism. Port St. Lucie, FL: Solid Ground Christian Books, 2018. The above is from Chapter 2, Article 2 of the Confession. Hereafter referred to as The Baptist Confession.
