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Hi Slade,
If I understand the Jewish mind correctly God is utterly transcendent, beyond our feeble grasp, and beyond definition. I believe this is an essential aspect of God that the evangelical church has laid aside. However, I believe that Jesus changes/fulfills the Older Testament view of transcendence. If Jesus is truly God then God has condescended to enter space and time and make Himself available in a way that is far more intimate and intense than the Older Testament. My view of the Older Testament is one of God giving us the mental furniture, the Word and Face that is then given light in the Person of Jesus Christ. Torrance calls Israel the ‘womb of the incarnation’. It is this Hebraic mindset and understanding that you, Kay, and Jeff provide on this forum that I find so helpful. Thank you.
The Nicene theologians were not slow to appreciate the basic revolution in knowledge of God that had taken place in Jesus Christ, through whom as Mediator between God and man we who are far off from God are brought near and are actually given access to Him. That is to say, with the incarnation of His Son in Jesus Christ, God in Himself is no longer closed to us, but has opened Himself to our knowledge in His own being as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for what He has revealed of Himself to us through Christ and in the Spirit He is in Himself. Hence we may now enter into personal communion with God without being limited by our creaturely incapacities or being obstructed by our alienation, because of what God in His love has done for us and our salvation in Jesus Christ and because of the gift of His Holy Spirit, the indwelling presence of God Himself. Thus through Christ Jesus and in the Spirit whether we are Jews or Gentiles we ma enter within the veil, and know God in the inner relations of His own sublime being as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (T.F. Torrance, ‘The Trinitarian Faith’, pg. 68.)
Jonathan
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The reason for the brevity is because the answer required brevity. To go further would simply force my foot in my mouth or my words may stumble into apostasy. G-d is soooo big I cannot begin to define even His edges, were they to exist.
However, does the Newer Testament give more insight into the Holy One? Absolutely! Any commentary gives insight into a subject... how much more does the Newer Testament, as the Inspired "Commentary" on the Older Testament, give insight into the Older Testament!
-- slade
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