Teachings concerning God.
I. THE HIGHEST TEACHINGS. Our thoughts am too much chained to the earths and too much centred in self. Even in religion we tend to subjective feelings rather than to worship—the contemplation and the service of God. Now, the chief end of revelation is to make God known to us, and the highest occupation for our minds is to rise to the thought of God. The character of God should make this clear to us.
1. His greatness. Knowledge should seek a worthy object. We should desire to know what is greatest, rather than petty details.
2. His holiness. Teachings about God are teachings about goodness. Here we come to the source of true ethics. We cannot study "the good" till we know God.
3. His love. That is supreme in God, and it is supreme in the universe. To know the love of God is to know what is highest and best of all things.
II. PRACTICAL TEACHINGS. It may be urged that we cannot afford to spend our time in contemplation, that we want to know how to live our present life, and that therefore earthly and human knowledge is the most important knowledge. But this is a mistake. For God is not separated from this world and the affairs of daily life. The knowledge of God is not abstract theology. God is our Father, our Master, our Guide. To know God is to know how to live; it is to know what character and conduct are in harmony with the mind of our supreme King. We cannot live aright without knowing him. Moreover, it is a matter of profound interest to know how God is disposed towards us. Is he gracious and forgiving? how may we best please him? These are practical questions. But apart from the ends of knowledge, the knowledge of God is itself a source of blessedness. To know God is eternal life (John 17:3).
III. DIFFICULT TEACHINGS. Experience shows how grievously men have erred in their teachings about God. Not only has heathenism gone astray in its manifold and monstrous perversions of Divinity, but Christians have set forth the most erroneous conceptions of God. With some he has been regarded as a stern despot, an arbitrary autocrat; with others he has been represented as a mere personification of amiable and compliant good will, without regard to moral considerations. It is not wonderful that the teachings are difficult, considering:
1. The greatness of God. One can know but a very little of so awful a Being. We see but "parts of his ways;" "but the thunder of his power who can understand?"
2. The blindness of men. Sin blinds us; prejudice perverts our notions of God instead of allowing us to see the truth about him.
IV. POSSIBLE TEACHINGS.
1. From revelation. God has not hidden himself in the thick darkness. He has made himself known in his works, by the inspiration of prophecy, and above all in the Person of Christ. Agnosticism is only defensible if all revelation is discarded, and agnosticism cannot account for Christ.
2. By spiritual grace. The knowledge of God is an inward revelation. We can only read nature, the Bible, and Christ aright when the Spirit of God is in our hearts. By the gift of his Spirit God opens our eyes to the knowledge of himself.—W.F.A.