On the Ineffability of God

  • We can’t capture all of who God is in our creaturely language.
  • We are dependent on language that God reveals about himself.
  • Such language is meaningful without being comprehensive. It is true without being exhaustive.
  • Our language for God participates in, points to, and enjoys something bigger than we can wrap our minds around. “How inscrutable [are] his ways!” (Romans 11:33)
  • Our language for God in worship is an exuberant exasperation, a glad struggle. Our words are never enough. There is always more of God to enjoy!
  • When we speak of God, we should do so with humility, reverence, and awe.
  • There is a sacred silence for what God has not revealed.

“I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.”
Psalm 145:1-3