THEOLOGY PROPER: ESSENCE OF GOD:

IMMANENCE AND TRANSCENDENCE - Page 1

1A.     Immanence

1B.  Input from Scripture

1C.     Evidence

1D.  In Created Nature

1E.     Job 34:14‑15

2E.     Ps. 104:29‑30

     "When thou hidest thy face, they are dismayed; when

     thou takest away their breath, they die and return to

     their dust. When thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they

     are created; and thou renewest the face of the

     ground."

3E.     Jer. 23:24

4E.     Col. 1:17

2D.  In Human Nature

1E.     Gen. 2:7

2E.     Acts 17:27‑28

2C.     Explanation

     "What is emphasized in these passages is that God is active

     within the regular patterns of nature. He is the God of

     nature, of natural law. Even what are ordinarily considered

     natural events should be seen as God's doing, for nature and

     God are not as separate as we usually think. God is present

     everywhere, not just in the spectacular or unusual occurrences.

     He is at work within human individuals and thus within human

     institutions and movements." Erickson, Chr. Theo., P. 303.

3C.     Evaluation

1D.     Contrast Between Immanence and Pantheism

1E.  Explained

  "The more the concept of the immanence of God is

  developed and emphasized, the more the view moves

  towards pantheism, as contrasted with theism." Ibid.

2E.     Elaborated

1F.     God and Nature with Respect to Immanence

     "nature is not transcendent to God. Thus,

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nature minus God equals nothing. God, however, does have status independent of nature. So, God minus nature does equal something." Ibid.

2F.    God and Nature with Respect to Pantheism

    "In pantheism, nature minus God equals nothing,

    but God minus nature also equals nothing. He

    has no independent status. Creation in the

    traditional sense has no place in the

    pantheistic scheme, since, according to

    pantheism, God could not have existed before the

    creation of the natural order." Ibid.

2D.   Condemnation of Pantheism

   "The biblical view strikes hard against secular

   misconceptions of divine transcendence and divine

   immanence. It rules out notions that the world is

   necessary to God's being, that God is the world‑Substance

   or the indwelling world‑Soul, that the universe is a mode

   of God's being, that nature is a phase of the divine life

   or a part of God, that the causal determination of nature

   is God's thought and power, that the Absolute is man's

   inmost nature, or that the Absolute is in process of

   becoming the diverse forms of finite being. One can no

   more be a Christian and deify the universe." Henry, God

   Revel. and Auth., 6:39

2B.     Investigation of Differing Views

1C. Classic Liberalism

1D.   Expression in Comparison with Conservatism

   "To a large extent, the difference between fundamentalism

   and liberalism is a difference in world‑view. The

   conservative operates with a definite supernaturalism – God    

   resides outside the world and intervenes periodically

   within the natural processes through miracles. The

   conservative sees reality as occupying more than one

   level. The liberal, on the other hand, tends to have a

   single‑story view of reality. There is no supernatural

   realm outside of the natural realm. God is within nature

   rather than beyond or outside it."

2D.  Essence of Liberalism

  "Although liberalism is not naturalism, it has similar

  tendencies. There is a tendency, for example, to view God

  as working exclusively through natural processes rather

  than through radical discontinuities with nature

  (miracles)." Ibid.

3D.  Example of the Liberal View of Immanence

  "The liberal is happy to accept evolution as an example of

  God at work. In evolution God is seen as accomplishing

  his ends through the use of natural means. According to

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liberalism, nothing is secular, for God is at work everywhere

and through everything that occurs." Ibid.

4D.     Evaluation of the Liberal View of Immanence

1E.  In Bibliology

     "Revelation is any instance of conscious insight.

     Thus, the Bible is a book recording God's revelations

     to man. As such, however, it is not unique; that is,

     it is not qualitatively different from other pieces

     of religious literature, or even literature that does

     not claim to be religious. Isaiah, the Sermon on the

     Mount, Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Carlyle, Goethe, all

     are vehicles of divine revelation. Any truth, no

     matter where you find it, is divine truth.,, Ibid.,

     p. 305.

     QUESTION:

2E.  In Anthropology

     "Liberalism, on the other hand, pictures human nature

     as in itself containing God. There is a spark of the

     divine within man. Liberals do not believe that

     man's original nature has been corrupted; rather,

     they view human nature as being intrinsically good

     and having the potential of developing further. What

     is needed is not some radical transformation by grace

     from without. Rather, the potential divinity of man

     must be developed or the divine presence within

     amplified. Nurturing of the strengths, ideals, and

     aspirations of man is what is called for, not a

     supernaturalistic alteration. Man does not need a

     conversion, a radical change of direction. Rather,

     he needs inspiration, a vision of what he can become.

     His old nature is not some radically corrupted

     humanity. It is simply his affinity with the animal

     kingdom and his self‑orientation ‑ these need to be

     transcended." Ibid.

     NOTE:

3E.  In Eschatology

1F.              Significance

     "Consequently, divine action is seen as taking

     place to a large extent through movements within

     society. Political activity, for example, and

     social‑action groups are means by which God's

     purpose is accomplished. The whole world can be

     Christianized through transformation of the

     structures of society. God may be as active

     within a particular political party as he is

     within a Christian denomination." Ibid.

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2F. Source

1G.     Stated

     "Much of the current plea for a

     nontranscendent this ‑ worldly theology

gains

     its impetus from an infatuation with

     Marxism." Henry, God, Revel. Auth., 6:40

2G.     Supported

     "I think that ... the Marxist dialectic, when

     lived in its fullness, is ultimately richer

     in the infinite and more demanding still

     than the Christian transcendence."

     Garandy, From Anathesim to Dialogue: Marxist

     Chal. Chr. Chc. p. 96

3F.     Summary

3E.  In Christology

     "Jesus was different from other human beings in

     degree only, not in kind. He was the man with the

     greatest God‑consciousness, or the man who most fully

     discovered God, or the person in whom God most fully

     dwelt." Erickson, Chr. Theo., p. 306

4E.  POINT:

2C.     Panentheism

1D.     Definition

     "God is not a being; he is being itself, or the ground of

     being. He is that internal power or force which causes

     everything to exist. Thus, whereas all finite beings

     exist, God does not exist." Ibid., P. 307

2D.     Difficulty

     "God does not merely exist ‑ God is! Finite beings exist;

     God is, and is the basis of the existence of everything

     that exists." Ibid.

     BUT:

3D.     Delineation

     "But although God is the basis of the existence of every

     object, he cannot be known by superficial knowledge of any

     object or set of objects. He is the depth within

     everything that is. He is the deep internal force causing

     it to be rather than not be. Thus there is a type of

     transcendence here, quite unconventional in its nature.

     God is not outside objects. He is deep down within them.

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When one experiences something in depth, he is experiencing God's transcendence. When someone has a very deep relationship with another person, he is experiencing the transcendent God. In such a situation one is aware that the ground of his own being is the same as the ground of the other person's being. One can have a similar experience with beings which are other than human: animals, plants, inanimate nature. In getting beyond a surface acquaintance with these objects, one is relating to God." Ibid.

THEREFORE:

4D.     Denial

     "God is not a person, any more than he is a being. But he

     is the ground of personality. He is the basis or cause of

     human personality. He is what makes us personal. And in

     that sense he is personal. Wherever one experiences or

     encounters personality, one is encountering God, for he is

     the cause of all personality. But he is not an entity

     with which one can have a personal relationship. One

     cannot know God as God. One can know him only in

     conjunction with knowing some other being. God cannot be

     known on a person‑to‑person basis." Ibid.

3C. Death of God Theology

1D.     Consideration

     "Through a series of steps God came to identify with man.

     This process was completed in the person of Jesus. with

     his coming to earth, God irrevocably became part of the

     world. The death of God was, then, something of a suicide

     of the primordial God, that is, a voluntary giving up of

     his primordial status. He no longer has any existence

     apart from human beings. With the coming of Jesus, a

     process of diffusion of the divine nature began, so that

     it is now found throughout humanity. We therefore see

     Jesus now in every person within the human race." Ibid.,

     p. 309

2D.     Consequence

     "with the diffusion of the divine nature, the boundary

     line between the sacred and the secular has for all

     practical purposes broken down. Traditionally, God was to

     be found within distinctively religious practices, such as

     worship, prayer, and meditation. God is no longer found

     within these activities. Such practices are now quite

     meaningless. If the sense of God is to be recaptured, it

     is as likely to be recaptured through participation in the

     civil‑rights movement as through worship in a cathedral,

     perhaps even more so." Ibid.

     RESULT:

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3D. Critique

"This movement, then, is little more than a humanism set within the context of religious symbols and architecture. The dimension of a personal and transcendent God has been so lost that there is little basis for terming an experience religious other than its having a mystical character. Further, the Christian ethic which is practiced here has little ideological basis. The doctrinal tenets which once served as the foundation of ethical practice are gone; only the superstructure of ethics remains, perhaps as an emotional carry‑over from an earlier time." Ibid., p. 310

4D. Conclusion

1E.  Stated

     "If God is totally immanent within the creation and

     history, there is no basis for making ethical

     evaluations. There is no outside objective standard

     by which to make such judgments. When we

     overemphasize immanence at the expense of

     transcendence, God becomes virtually a label for

     man's highest values, ideals, and aspirations."

     Ibid.

2E.     Illustrated Twice in the 20th Century

1F.     "The first was in connection with world War I,

     when certain German Christians identified the

     war policy of Kaiser Wilhelm as the working of

     God to accomplish his purposes."

     NOTE:

2F.     "The second came in the 1930's when some Christians regarded the policies of Adolf Hitler and Naziism as God's activity in the world." Ibid.

3B.     Implications of Immanence

1C.     Respecting the Ordinary and the Extraordinary

     "God is not limited to working directly to accomplish his

     purposes. While it is very obviously a work of God when his

     people pray and a miraculous healing occurs, it is also God's

     work when through the application of medical knowledge and skill

     a physician is successful in bringing a patient back to health.

     Medicine is part of God's general revelation, and the work of

     the doctor is a channel of God's activity. it is a dramatic

     answer to prayer when a Christian in financial need receives an

     anonymous gift of money in the mail, but it is just as much

     God's doing when he receives an opportunity to work for the

     money he needs." Ibid.

              OBSERVATION:

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2C.           Regarding God's Providence

           "God may use persons and organizations that are not avowedly

           Christian. In biblical times, God did riot limit himself to

           working through the covenant nation of Israel or through the

           church. He even used Assyria, a pagan nation, to bring

           chastening upon Israel. He is able to use secular or nominally

           Christian organizations. Even non‑Christians do some genuinely

           good and commendable things. This is not to say that these

           deeds are in any sense meritorious work:, which qualify for

           salvation the people who do them. But much deeds may be

           contributory to God's purposes in the world, even if those who

           do them do not recognize them as‑such." Ibid.

              ILLUSTRATION:

2A.          Transcendence

1B.           Import of scripture

1C. Concerning God the Father

1D. Ps. 113:5‑6

"Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who

looks far down upon the heavens and the earth?"

2D.     Is 6:1‑5

3D.     Is. 55:8‑9

           "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your

           ways my ways, says 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."

           NOTE:

4D.     I. 57:15

          "For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits

          eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and

          holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and

          humble spirit, to revive the spirit: of the humble, and to

          revive the heart of the contrite.'"

2B. Instruction  on Various Views

1C.          Traditional Model

1D.          Explained

          "It is obvious from the texts we have already cited

          that the biblical conception depends heavily upon

spatial imagery. God is thought of as 'higher,' 'above,' 'high and lifted up.' This is not surprising, for in a world where human flight had not

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Yet been achieved, and would not be for a long time, it was natural to express superiority  superiority in terms of elevation." Erickson, Chr. Theo., p. 313

2D.     Evaluated

1E.     Practically

     "Today, however, it is difficult if not

     impossible for sophisticated persons to conceive

     of God's transcendence in this fashion. There

     are two reasons for this difficulty, one

     deriving from general culture, and the other

     theological in character. On one hand, simple

     references to 'up' and 'down' are inadequate

     today. In biblical times and for centuries

     thereafter it was assumed that all heavenly

     bodies are located in an upward direction from

     the surface of the earth. But the knowledge

     that the earth is not a flat surface and is

     actually part of a heliocentric system which is

     in turn part of a much larger universe has made

     this assumption untenable." ibid.

     BUT:

2E.     Theologically

     "The theological problem pertains to God Is

     nature. . . .

     the question of whereness does not apply to God.

     He is not a physical being; hence he does not

     have spatial dimensions of location and

     extension. It does not make sense to talk about

     God as if his location could be plotted on

     astronomical coordinates, or he could be reached

     by traveling long enough and far enough in a

     rocket ship. He is a spirit, not an object.,,

     Ibid.

     BUT:

3C.     Barthian Model

1D.     Context

     Der Romerbrief, 1919

2D.     Concept

     "God is not an aspect of man or the best of human nature.

     He is separated from man by an infinite qualitative

     distinction. There is within man no spark of affinity

     with the divine, no ability to produce divine revelation,

     no remainder in him of a likeness to God. Moreover, God

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is not involved in nature or conditioned by it. He is free from all such limitations. Nor is he really known by us. He is the hidden one; he cannot be discovered by man's effort, verified by man's intellectual proofs, or understood in terms of man's concepts." Ibid., p. 314

3D.     Consequence

     "Barth's vigorous attack upon all forms of natural

     theology was an expression of his belief in divine

     transcendence. Revelation comes only on God's own

     initiative; and when it does come, it is not mediated

     through general culture. It comes, in Barth's language,

     vertically from above. Man is never able in any way to

     make God his possession." Ibid.

4D.     Criticism

     "Barth's early view of transcendence was extreme. Taken

     in its most literal form, it seemed to virtually cut off

     any real possibility of communication between God and man.

     There was too severe a distinction between God and man,

     too sharp a rejection of culture. But this was a much

     needed correction to the anthropocentric thrust of much

     nineteenth‑century immanentism: Ibid.

     POINT:

4C.     Kierkegarrdian Model

1D.     Background

2D.     Qualitative Distinction

     "By qualitative distinction is meant that the difference

     between God and man is not merely one of degree. God is

     not merely like man but more so. They are of

     fundamentally different kinds. Thus God cannot be known

     by taking the highest and the best elements within man and

     amplifying them. Being qualitatively distinct, God cannot

     be extrapolated from the ideas that man has nor from the

     qualities of man's personality or character." Ibid., p­

     315

3D.     Dimensional Beyondness

1E. Definition

"It is not merely the case that when measured in

terms of the dimensions of man, God is infinite; he

is also in a different dimension altogether. It is

somewhat like the difference between a two­

dimensional figure (a horizontal plane) and a three­

dimensional figure. In the latter instance, the

added dimension (the vertical) not only intersects

the horizontal plane, but is transcendent to it."

Ibid., p. 316

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2E.    Distinction

    "The concept of dimensional beyondness enables us to

    think of transcendence and immanence 'together. God

    is in the same place we are, yet he is not accessible

    to us in a simple way, for he is in a different

    dimension. He is on a different level or in a

    different realm of reality." Ibid.

3E.  Difficulty

  "In like manner, God is near to us; his presence and

  influence are everywhere. Yet because he is in a

  spiritual realm of reality, we cannot get from

  ourselves to him by mere geographical locomotion. It

  requires a change of state to make that transition, a

  change which usually involves death. Thus, God can

  be near, so very near, and yet be afar off as well,

  as several Scripture references indicate (e.g., Jer.

  23:23; Eph. 4:6)." Ibid.

3B.     Inferences From the Doctrine of Transcendence

1C.     There is something higher than man. Man is not the highest

     good in the universe, or the highest measure of truth and

     value. Good, truth, and value are not determined by the

     shifting flux of this world and human opinion. There is

     something which gives value to man from above. The value of

     man is not that he is the highest product of the evolutionary

     process thus far, but that the supreme eternal being has made

     man in his own image. It is not man's estimation of himself,

     but the judgment of the holy God that gives man value." Ibid.,

     p. 317

     THEREFORE:

2C.  "God can never be completely captured in human concepts. This

     means that all of our doctrinal ideas, helpful and basically

     correct though they may be, cannot fully exhaust God's nature.

     He is not limited to our understanding of him. Nor can our

     forms of worship or styles of church architecture give full

     expression to what God is. There is no way in which we humans

     can adequately represent or approach God." Ibid.

     HOWEVER:

3C.  "Our salvation is not our achievement. Fellowship with God is not attained by our making our way up to God. That is impossible. We are not able to raise ourselves to God's level by fulfilling his standards for us. Even if we were able to do So, it still would not be our accomplishment. The very fact that we know what he expects of us is a matter of his self-revelation, not our discovery. Even apart from the additional problem of sin, then, fellowship with God would be strictly a

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matter of his gift to us.” Ibid.

POINT:

4C.  "There will always be a difference between God and man. The gap between us is not merely a moral and spiritual disparity which originated with the fall It is metaphysical, stemming from creation. Even when redeemed and glorified, we will still be renewed human beings. we will never become God. He will always be God and we will always be humans, so that there will always be a transcendence.‑ Salvation consists in God's restoring us to what he intended us to be, not elevating us to what he is." Ibid., pp. 31‑18

5C.     "Reverence is appropriate in our relationship with God. Some

     worship, rightfully stressing the joy and confidence that the

     believer has in relationship to a loving heavenly Father, goes

     beyond that point to an excessive familiarity treating him as

     an equal, or worse yet, as a servant. If we have grasped the

     fact of the divine transcendence, however, this will not

     happen. While there are room and need for enthusiasm of

     expression, and perhaps even an exuberance, that should never

     lead to a loss of respect. There will always be a sense of awe

     and wonder, of what Rudolf Otto called the mysterium tremendum.

     Although there are love and trust and openness between us and

     God, we are not equals. He is the almighty, sovereign Lord.

     We are his servants and followers. This means that we will

     submit our wills to God; we will not try to make his will

     conform to ours." Ibid., p. 318

     NOTE:

6C.  "We will look for genuinely transcendent working by God. Thus

     we will not expect that only those things which can be

     accomplished by natural means will come to pass. While we will

     use every available technique of modern learning to accomplish

     God's ends, we will never cease to be dependent upon his

     working. we will not neglect prayer for his guidance or for

     his special intervention. Thus, for example, Christian

     counseling will not differ from other types of counseling

     (naturalistic or humanistic) only in that it is preceded by

     brief prayer. There will be the anticipation that God will, in

     response to faith and prayer, work in ways that could not be

     predicted or produced solely on the basis of natural factors."

     Ibid.

     OBSERVATION: