Evangelical Calvinism's "Doctrine of God" and Her Approach

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Here is T. F. Torrance describing John Knox’s view of God’s uniqueness:

God is ‘the one only God’, absolutely unique. It is to him only that we must cleave, and him only that we must serve and worship, and in him alone put all our trust. It was in these terms that the Scots Confession [authored by John Knox] opened its articles of faith. That needed to be said, and Knox was never weary of saying it — God is alone in his ineffable majesty and can lend majesty to no one. It belongs to God as God to be utterly unique in the exaltation of his Being and nature. God is only like God, and will have no other gods before him, and no images of God can have any place in our knowledge and worship of him. The unique God can only be confessed and acknowledged. It was John Duns Scotus, the hero of John Major, who said (as well as Aquinas) ‘God is not in a genus’ . . . which means that we cannot know him in any general way or speak of him in general terms. The unique God can be known only through himself in the light of his own majesty and glory. [brackets mine]Β (Thomas Torrance, “Scottish Theology,” 5)

This quote, beyond the sense of worship it should evoke (just thinking about who God is, His beauty and majesty, His ways which are beyond finding out), helps exemplify the approach to God that ‘Evangelical Calvinism’ intends. It is what is called in Latin (and from Medieval days) the via positiva, or the “positive way.” What this means is that EC wants to approach any knowledge of God by allowing God to impose Himself upon us; we believe that God’s self-revelation in Christ is the only mediation of God that has any merit towards constructing a ‘Doctrine of God’ and any subsequent doctrines. This means that approaching God through “negative ways” (via negativa) is a dead end. Thus, EC is at odds with Federal Calvinism, Roman Catholicism, and any other system of theology that tries to develop a doctrine of God through preconceptions of what a God who can create, for example, should be like. Simply put, ‘EC’s approach is positive and grounded in ‘revelation’ (not philosophy).

Hope you have found this informative.

10 thoughts on “Evangelical Calvinism's "Doctrine of God" and Her Approach”

  2. Yes, I appreciated that quote, too. We tend to want to put God at the far end of our scale, rather than realizing that He is alone, He is unlike anything else, or anyone else. We cannot think of the best in our mind and then multiply by 10, 100, 1000, whatever. He is alone. Though there are 3 persons in eternal relationship with and to each other. They are unlike us, yet they love us because They are love.

    My mind is failing me here, but that is where worship lives isn’t it! He created us to be amazed at Him.

    Craig

  3. It’s “Thomistic,” which by way of method reasons its way back to God (it starts with nature, its called the analogia entis or analogy of being). In other words, it starts with man, and then reasons its way back from God. If you want more explanation let me know.

  5. Hi Craig,

    Amen!That’s right, that’s why I like thinking about the Trinity and all of this; it always ends in worship! Great to hear from you.

  7. Turran,

    Let me dig up a post that will help explain this further; hang on . . .

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