The answer
It is true that God is unseen and unlimited … but He reveals Himself and allows man to know Him … not His Nature … but through His work, His Word and His Revelations. Man knows God through His creation …
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. (Psalm 19:1); For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are dearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. (Ro 1:20)
Through contemplation, meditation and interaction with nature and the rest of creation Man gets to know God in His ultimate Perfection, Beauty, Wisdom and Power … Man gets to see God’s Love for human beings.
Man also gets to know God through His Revelations by the prophets and Church Fathers …
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds (Heb 1: l -2).
Man learns everything by receiving knowledge from predecessors … Man receives knowledge from his parents … Man gets to know everything and everyone through discipleship and education. For the human knowledge of God is collective as is complemented along the experiences of the Prophets of the Old Testament, the Apostles of the New Testament and the lives of the Saints.
- “ By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Heb 11: 7-8)
- “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” (Heb 11: 27)
The Bible thus confirms …
… for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Pet 1: 21)
The Bible is therefore an alive, renewable source of knowledge about God. In way of complementation to the Holy Bible is ‘the Church Tradition’ which, has preserved and secured for us the proper interpretation of this Holy Revelation that reassures our knowledge of God throughout History.
Man also knows God through his personal conscience, for God speaks to man directly … He indeed speaks to each and every man …
- Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (Rev 3: 20)
- Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. (Heb 3: 15)
- He who has ears to hear, let him hear! (Matt 11:15)
And in order for Truth about God be revealed in a much better way, our Lord Jesus Christ was Incarnated and came to us on earth in the flesh ...
- That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us (l John l: 1-2)
- Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14: 8-9)
Our Lord’s Incarnation, that happened at a distinct point in history as witnessed and testified to us by the Fathers of the Early Church, is still conveyed to us, with all its Power and Authority, by means of the Holy Spirit Who works through the Teachings and the Holy Sacraments of the Church. For it is through Baptism that we come to know God and are united with Him … It is through the Sacrament of the Holy Myron that God dwells in us by His Holy Spirit … It is through the Sacrament of the Unction of the Sick that we are healed from our spiritual and physical illnesses … It is through the Sacrament of Matrimony that we complete His Holy Will of uniting with our partners in Him … It is through the Sacrament of Priesthood that priests partake in His Priestly Work … It is through the Sacrament of Repentance and Confession that we taste God’s mercy and forgiveness … It is through the Sacrament of Holy Communion that we are united with Him ... It is in this manner that our Lord Jesus Christ remains with us as we learn more and more about Him, as He advised:
… teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matt 28: 20)
However, Man’s knowledge of God will always remain that of the knowledge of a limited creature for the Unlimited Being …
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now / know in part, but then I shall know just as / also am known. (1Co 13: 12)
For no one can completely fathom God … or acquire a complete knowledge of Him … or perceive His Mind … that is mainly because God is unlimited …
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: 9)
But we grow in our knowledge of God through the Holy Spirit, so that we:
… may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:18 - 19)
Therefore, while the Bible confirms that it is totally impossible to totally perceive God in a complete manner, it still declares that it is paramount that people know Him for the sake of their own salvation, for He …
“… desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1Tim 2: 4)
Fr. Daoud Lamei