Principle 26

HERMENEUTICS

PRINCIPLE 26

The Finite Cannot Completely Fathom the Infinite

Dogs can learn tricks, but can you teach calculus to a dog? Of course not! There’s a limit to what dogs can understand, and calculus is beyond that limit. In the same way, there are limits to what humans can understand. We’re finite. God is infinite. There are some things that God has revealed that go beyond our finite comprehension. 

Romans 11:33-34 supports this principle in saying: “Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice?”

Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

The Trinity

Consider the doctrine of the Trinity, the truth that one God exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He’s not three Gods; He is one God. He is not three parts, or three phases, or three modes, but three Persons. We cannot completely understand the doctrine of the Trinity because we’re finite and God is infinite.

When we interpret certain Scriptures, we must acknowledge that there will be some truths that we’re not able to comprehend or fully explain. Trying to fully explain these truths could result in bad hermeneutics, because we’re trying to explain something that’s beyond our ability to understand.

Luke 22:42

The Lord Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully Man. He is not half-God/half-man. This doctrine is impossible for us to completely understand because it’s beyond our finite minds.

Verses like Luke 22:42 that emphasize our Lord’s humanity are fairly easy for us to understand, but when we think about His deity, it’s difficult to comprehend. For example, how could the Son, as Man, pray to the Father — and yet, as God, be one with the Father? It’s beyond our finite comprehension. Even though we can’t fully grasp the truth that Jesus was, and is, forever fully God and fully Man, we accept this truth because the Bible teaches it.

We acknowledge that the finite cannot completely fathom the infinite.