But is the Bible Full of Mysteries, Paradoxes, and Unknowable Things?
But is the Bible Full of Mysteries, Paradoxes, and Unknowable Things?
Perhaps surprisingly, the people I most often hear making statements like these are not unbelievers. They are Christians. I have deliberately placed this article in the “Excuses” section because statements such as “We simply cannot understand these things,” “These things are not meant to be known or understood,” “It is a mystery,” “God’s ways are beyond our ways,” or “The Bible is full of paradoxes” can become excuses for not digging more deeply into the Word of God. Sometimes such statements come from genuine humility and a recognition of our human limitations. Sometimes they come from frustration after failing to find a satisfactory answer. Sometimes we have simply been taught that certain things cannot be understood and have never thought to question that assumption. At other times, however, such statements can arise from pride, discomfort, or even a reluctance to acknowledge that someone else may have studied a matter more deeply or discovered something we ourselves have not yet understood. Whatever the reason, our own inability to understand something should never become the standard by which we determine what someone else can understand, nor should it discourage another person from continuing to study, ask questions, and seek a better understanding of what God has revealed.
Make no mistake about this: God is a God of purpose. He did not accidentally give us His Word. He chose to reveal Himself through it. To suggest that God purposely gave humanity a revelation that is not meant to be known and cannot actually be understood is, when carried to its logical conclusion, nothing less than to suggest that God purposelessly babbles incoherently. I for one reject that completely. Neither is God a God of confusion. Paul writes, “For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33). While the immediate context concerns order within the church, the principle certainly does not present God as One who communicates without purpose or meaning.
Of course there are things we do not know. There are things God has not revealed, questions Scripture may not answer, and realities concerning an infinite God that finite human beings cannot fully comprehend. Christianity does not require us to pretend otherwise. But there is an enormous difference between saying, “God has not revealed this” and saying, “God revealed this, but He did so in a way that no one can understand.” Scripture itself gives us the distinction: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). Notice both sides. There are secret things that belong to God. But there are also things revealed, and those things belong to us. They were revealed for a reason—not merely to be admired from a distance as incomprehensible mysteries, but so that God’s people might know them, understand them, and follow them.
Therefore, be forgiving but do not be discouraged when someone tells you that you are asking questions that cannot be answered simply because the subject is difficult or because they failed to find the answer. Do not allow “It is a mystery” to become the point at which you automatically stop studying. And certainly do not allow another Christian’s unwillingness or inability to dig deeper into Scripture to determine how deeply you are willing to dig and share. Their failure to find an answer does not prove that an answer cannot be found, just as our discovery of an answer does not mean that we have nothing more to learn.
At the same time, if God does grant us greater knowledge, wisdom, understanding, or discernment – all as He has promised to those who seek – we have absolutely no reason to boast. These things are not treasures that originate in and of ourselves. Like every good gift, they come from God and are given according to His grace. The ability to study, reason, discern, understand, remember, teach, and communicate truth should therefore produce gratitude and humility rather than arrogance. Whatever understanding God has graciously allowed us to obtain is not given so that we might elevate ourselves above another person, but so that it might be used for His glory, for the edification—and sometimes the correction—of others, and for an even greater pursuit of truth. The proper response to receiving understanding is not, “Look how much we know,” but, “Look how gracious God has been to give us understanding of this.”
Neither, however, are we intended to sit on the gifts God has given us. God gives gifts for a purpose, and He intends those gifts to be used for His purposes and His glory. To those whom God has given gifts of evangelism, leadership, teaching, service, encouragement, giving, mercy, or worship, those gifts are no less important; but neither are the gifts of knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and discernment. One gift should not be exalted at the expense of another, nor should one person’s gift be diminished simply because God has equipped another person differently. The Church needs those who evangelize, those who lead, those who teach, those who serve, those who encourage, those who worship, those who discern, and those whom God has equipped to dig deeply into His Word. It is the culmination of these gifts, when exercised humbly and working together in harmony, that strengthens and edifies the body of Christ. We should therefore neither boast in the gifts God has given us nor bury them. We should receive them with gratitude, develop them faithfully, and use them for the purpose for which God gave them.
It is to the glory of God to hide things and the glory of kings to seek them out. Therefore, do not allow someone else’s limitations to become your limitations. There is nothing wrong with another Christian honestly saying, “I don’t know,” or even, “I have studied this and still do not understand it.” Those can be wonderfully humble admissions. The problem comes when “I don’t know” quietly becomes “You cannot know,” or “I have not found the answer” becomes “Therefore, the answer does not exist.” Those conclusions simply do not follow. See the Popup —> The Pursuit of Truth Requires Perseverance
Instead, be encouraged by God’s own Word and by His promises concerning those who genuinely seek Him. Approach Scripture humbly. Recognize the limits of your own understanding. Be willing to admit when you are wrong. Be willing to say, “I don’t know,” when Scripture does not – or not yet – provided an answer. Pray for wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and discernment, recognizing that these are gifts from God rather than accomplishments for which we can take personal credit. But when God has spoken, seek diligently to understand what He has said. God did not give us His Word so that we would surrender our pursuit of understanding it. He gave us His Word so that we would hear Him, know Him, believe Him, and obey Him. See the Popup —> Why Does God Conceal Things?