God does not come to us in nicely defined, rationally explained, thought categories. God does not fit Himself into our theological textbooks. God breaks all the rules. He is near, yet transcendent; clothed in human form, yet holy; more terrifying than can be imagined, yet compassionate; invisible, yet revealed; judging, yet merciful, sovereign, yet humble. No matter where you look, God breaks the molds. Skip Moen, Dean — Master's International Divinity School
No matter who we are or where we come from, we each have an idea about God. It could be you think He doesn't exist, or He just created the world and now sits back and watches it, disinterested. Perhaps you think He is a She, or an It. Maybe for you God is the ultimate 911 service, only to be called upon in an emergency; or God is a cosmic police officer, waiting and watching to catch you break His laws. We are often inoculated with these images of God early in our lives — from our parents, our culture or the church.
The problem is none of our images or words can adequately capture Him. The quote above makes a point the Bible reinforces again and again — our descriptions of God cannot begin to capture His majesty, glory and infiniteness. He is holy, awesome, vast and eternal. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways. Our limited minds and finite lives simply cannot fathom the depth and breadth of God.
It is only as God reveals Himself to us that we begin to get an accurate picture of who He really is. And that revelation comes to us in three primary ways: through creation, through Jesus Christ, and through the Scriptures handed down through generations.
This means all we know about God comes from His revelation about Himself. We only know Him as He discloses Himself to us. Because of this, we must keep two things constantly in view. We can know God and have confidence about what He is like, and at the same time, we will never be able to understand Him completely. We know enough about God to love, revere and worship Him, but most of God will remain mysterious and beyond our comprehension.
The great nineteenth century theologian and preacher, C.H. Spurgeon, puts it this way:
There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, "Behold I am wise." But when we come to this master-science, finding that our plumb-line cannot sound its depth, and our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass's colt; and with solemn exclamation, "I am but of yesterday, and know nothing." No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than the thoughts of God...
But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe... The most excellent study for expanding the soul is the science of Christ, and him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of a man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity. C. H. Spurgeon
An example of this tension (knowing God yet never being able to fully grasp all of who He is) exemplifies the Christian idea of the Trinity. Central and unique to the Christian faith is the belief that the one God has disclosed Himself eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is plurality within the identity of the one God.
The doctrine of the Trinity is not a belief in three gods or of one God in three different modes or functions. It holds that within the one God there are three eternal and distinct persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — who live eternally in loving community.
We see this idea from the very first words of the Bible, where we see differentiation between God, the Spirit of God, and God's Word (spoken).
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. Genesis 1:1-3
The Beginning of Johns account of the life of Jesus echoes back to the opening words of Genesis but now adds another layer to our understanding.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John1:1-5, 14
John opens his Gospel with the astounding claim: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Notice, the Word is eternal. Before the beginning began, He already was. The Word was personal and divine; with God and is God. This Word — the eternal self-communication of God — became flesh, wed His deity to our humanity and dwelt ("tabernacled") among us. "The Word" of Genesis 1 and John 1 is none other than the One we know as Jesus Christ.
Is that a little confusing to you? That's to be expected. Scholars and theologians have been wrestling with the nature of the Trinity for centuries. However, as Spurgeon tells us above, though we may not fully be able to comprehend many aspects of God, as we search for greater knowledge and understanding of Him, our minds will be expanded and we will come to know Him more deeply. We should always be reminded that we come to receive God on His terms, not ours. God is much bigger than any image we have of Him.