Incomprehensible, Not Irrational

People have developed a doctrine of God, particularly in evangelical circles—although not exclusively in evangelical circles—that God’s reason is on a different plane from man’s reason, so that what is irrational to man or contradictory to man may be rational to God.

Now, you’ve heard that. I’ve asked this question of many, many groups that have been through the Ligonier Valley Study Center. I’ll say this: “Can truth ever be contradictory?” I’ve had more evangelical Christians answer that question yes than I’ve ever heard from pure secularists. Evangelical Christians are wont to say, “Well, sure. God can do anything. God can square the circle. God can make two and two, five. God can violate the law of contradiction. And some things that look to us as being contradictions are perfectly rational to God,” confusing mystery with contradiction.

Now, all Christians would admit that the mind cannot grasp everything there is to God, that God’s being and the knowledge of God at points transcends the limits of human reason. But it’s one thing to say that God transcends the limits of human reason. It’s another thing to say that above the limitations of human reason (here’s reason or rationality), and up here, we call “super irrationality”—that is, that level where we cannot penetrate through rational deduction. But it’s one thing to call this level “super rationality”; it’s another thing to call it “irrationality.”

Irrationality is what we call nonsense. Now, I’m using that term advisedly. What does it mean literally? Non-sense. That is, an irrationality doesn’t make sense. It cannot be conceived of by a human being; no one can have meaningful discourse or communication at the nonsense level because the mind is so structured that it cannot understand it. Here it’s not because there’s a limit of what we can penetrate with the mind but here we believe that there’s a limit not only to truth, but to reality.

Let me press that a minute and ask you this question: Can reality ever be contradictory? There’s a whole host of people who believe that it can, who believe that something can be in a spot and not be in a spot at the same time in the same relationship. But Christianity, at this point, though it affirms the incomprehensibility of God, nevertheless affirms the rationality of God. Now here’s where it’s crucial. Our mind can only go so far in understanding God. And certainly, to know God we depend upon revelation. But that revelation is intelligible, understandable. It is not irrational. It is not gibberish. It is not nonsense.