Human Tendency to Project Understanding onto God's Truth
Human beings often struggle to fully grasp divine truth due to inherent limitations and the profound nature of God's wisdom, which is described as infinite and unsearchable [4, 5]. This struggle is not merely intellectual but also spiritual, as the fallen human mind is considered spiritually blind and unable to discern the true nature of spiritual things without divine illumination [9].
The Bible itself acknowledges the difficulty of comprehending God's ways. Ecclesiastes 1:13 speaks of the "sore travail" God has given to humanity to search for wisdom, implying a humbling and arduous process [2]. Paul, in Ephesians 3:18-19, describes the Christian's ability to "comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge," indicating that even with spiritual insight, God's truth extends beyond full human comprehension [1, 7]. This suggests that while faith allows for a certain understanding, it also acknowledges the limits of human reason in fully grasping divine realities [7].
The Catholic tradition, as articulated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, affirms that believing in God and His revealed truths is an authentically human act that does not contradict human freedom or reason [6]. However, it also recognizes that "man experiences many difficulties in coming to know God by the light of reason alone" [11]. While human reason is capable of attaining knowledge of God, various obstacles prevent its effective use [11]. Thomas Aquinas, a key figure in Scholastic theology, noted that for the human intellect to perfectly assent to truth, it needs both to grasp it and to form a sure judgment on it, implying a process that goes beyond mere intellectual apprehension [12].
Reformed theology, particularly through figures like John Calvin and Charles Hodge, emphasizes the necessity of divine intervention for true understanding. Calvin states that the minds of men are "entirely under the control of God, who rules them every moment," and that human skill and ingenuity can be rendered "stupefied" when confronted with divine truth [10]. Hodge further elaborates that while the Bible provides facts about God, Christ, and humanity's relationship to the Creator, it is the Holy Spirit who illuminates the mind to apprehend the "truth, excellence, and glory of things already revealed" [8]. This illumination is not a revelation of new truths but an enabling of the mind to understand what has already been revealed [8]. Without this spiritual enlightenment, individuals remain "spiritually blind" and incapable of receiving a proper impression from divine truths [9].
The concept of revelation itself highlights the gap between human understanding and divine truth. Revelation is defined as "an uncovering, a bringing to light of that which had been previously wholly hidden or only obscurely seen" [3]. This implies that much of God's truth would remain inaccessible without His active disclosure. The Scriptures are not merely a record of revelation but are the revelation itself in written form, designed for the accurate preservation and propagation of truth [3].
Early Christian thinkers also grappled with this dynamic. Origen, for instance, acknowledged that the workings and arrangements of divine providence often elude human understanding, and even that of angels [13]. He suggested that while the "invisible things of God" can be understood through creation, humans must ascend from these created things to a deeper knowledge of God's nature [14].
Sources
- Ephesians “Ephesians 4:13 (KJV) — Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”
- Ecclesiastes “Ecclesiastes 1:13 (Geneva1599) — And I haue giuen mine heart to search and finde out wisdome by all things that are done vnder the heauen: (this sore trauaile hath GOD giuen to the sonnes of men, to humble them thereby)”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Revelation — An uncovering, a bringing to light of that which had been previously wholly hidden or only obscurely seen. God has been pleased in various ways and at different times (Heb. 1:1) to make a supernatural revelation of himself and his purposes and plans, which, under the guidance of his Spirit, has been committed to writing. (See WORD OF [532]GOD.) The Scriptures are not merely the "record" of revelation; they are the revelation itself in a written form, in order to the accurate presevation and propagation of the truth. Revelation and inspiration differ. Rev”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Wisdom of God, The — Is one of his attributes -- 1Sa 2:3; Job 9:4. Described as Perfect. -- Job 36:4; 37:16. Mighty. -- Job 36:5. Universal. -- Job 28:24; Da 2:22; Ac 15:18. Infinite. -- Ps 147:5; Ro 11:33. Unsearchable. -- Isa 40:28; Ro 11:33. Wonderful. -- Ps 139:6. Beyond human comprehension. -- Ps 139:6. Incomparable. -- Isa 44:7; Jer 10:7. Underived. -- Job 21:22; Isa 40:14. The gospel contains treasures of -- 1Co 2:7. Wisdom of saints is derived from -- Ezr 7:25. All human wisdom derived from -- Da 2:1. Saints ascribe to him -- Da 2:20. Exhibited in His works. ”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Foreknowledge of God — Acts 2:23; Rom. 8:29; 11:2; 1 Pet. 1:2), one of those high attributes essentially appertaining to him the full import of which we cannot comprehend. In the most absolute sense his knowledge is infinite (1 Sam. 23:9-13; Jer. 38:17-23; 42:9-22, Matt. 11:21, 23; Acts 15:18).”
- Catechism of the Catholic Church (Catholic) “Catechism of the Catholic Church, CHAPTER THREE (part 4): that believing is an authentically human act. Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed is contrary neither to human freedom nor to human reason. Even in human relations it is not contrary to our dignity to believe what other persons tell us about themselves and their intentions, or to trust their promises (for example, when a man and a woman marry) to share a communion of life with one another. If this is so, still less is it contrary to our dignity to "yield by faith the full submission of... intellect and will to God”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 57: in order to reach it. Nor even when it has reached it does it comprehend what it feels, but persuaded of what it comprehends not, it understands more from mere certainty of persuasion than it could discern of any human matter by its own capacity. Hence it is elegantly described by Paul as ability “to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,” ( Eph. 3:18, 19 ). His object was to intimate, that what our mind embraces by faith is every w”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 9: by God in His Word ( 1 Cor. ii. 10-16 ). It is not, therefore, a revelation of new truths, but an illumination of the mind, so that it apprehends the truth, excellence, and glory of things already revealed. And second, 16 This experience is depicted in the Word of God. The Bible gives us not only the facts concerning God, and Christ, ourselves, and our relations to our Maker and Redeemer, but also records the legitimate effects of those truths on the minds of believers. So that we cannot appeal to our own feelings or inward experience, as ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 54: the state of men since the fall proves that until enlightened by the Holy Ghost they are spiritually blind, unable to discern the true nature of the things of the Spirit, and therefore incapable of receiving a due impression from them. Experience confirms this teaching of the Bible. It shows that no mere moral power of truth as presented objectively to the mind is of any avail to change the hearts of men. There once appeared on earth a divine person clothed in our nature; exhibiting the perfection of moral excellence in the form of a huma”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 38: them day by day, oJion ejp e\ma" a[geisi. And 238 certainly experience shows when those who were most skilful and ingenious stand stupefied, that the minds of men are entirely under the control of God, who rules them every moment. Hence it is said, that “He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way,” ( Ps. 107:40 ). Still, in this diversity we can trace some remains of the divine image distinguishing the whole human race from other creatures. 18. We must now explain what the p”
- Catechism of the Catholic Church (Catholic) “Catechism of the Catholic Church, CHAPTER ONE (part 4): the image of God".12 37 In the historical conditions in which he finds himself, however, man experiences many difficulties in coming to know God by the light of reason alone: Though human reason is, strictly speaking, truly capable by its own natural power and light of attaining to a true and certain knowledge of the one personal God, who watches over and controls the world by his providence, and of the natural law written in our hearts by the Creator; yet there are many obstacles which prevent reason from the effective and fruitful use o”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part (Secunda Secundae), Of the Gift of Knowledge, Art. 1: Article: Whether knowledge is a gift? I answer that, Grace is more perfect than nature, and, therefore, does not fail in those things wherein man can be perfected by nature. Now, when a man, by his natural reason, assents by his intellect to some truth, he is perfected in two ways in respect of that truth: first, because he grasps it; secondly, because he forms a sure judgment on it. Accordingly, two things are requisite in order that the human intellect may perfectly assent to the t”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 4: Tertullian IV, Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen — FROM THE LATIN. (part 1): tional understandings are ordered by Providence, eludes the view of men in a greater degree, and even, in my opinion, in no small degree that of the angels also. But as the existence of divine providence is not refuted by those especially who are certain of its existence, but who do not comprehend its workings or arrangements by the powers of the human mind; so neither will the divine inspiration of holy Scripture, which extends throughout its body, be believed to be non-existent, because the weakness of ou”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 4: Tertullian IV, Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen — CHAP. XLVI. (part 2): things only that they may use them as steps to ascend to the knowledge of the things of reason. For "the invisible things of God," that is, the objects of the reason, "from the creation of the world are clearly seen" by the reason, "being understood by the things that are made." And when they have risen from the created things of this world to the invisible things of God, they do not stay there; but after they have sufficiently exercised their minds upon these, and have understood their nature, they ascend to "”