Transcendence

Transcendence refers to the aspect of God’s nature and character that is independent of and beyond all known laws and principles within this universe. An easy and very shallow metaphor might be that spherical trigonometry transcends Euclidean geometry. Euclidean geometry is accurate for local travel, but directions for traveling large distances are not accurately captured in a rectilinear model. Seafarers have known for centuries to use latitude and longitude in a spherical coordinate system to navigate. Flatland (by A. Square, a.k.a. Edwin Abbott) provides fictional but much more entertaining examples.

Transcendence in matters of faith is not an excuse for not being able to articulate aspects of God’s nature, but a recognition of reality. Everything that we know and experience, accessible to our senses, capable of being reasoned by us, was created by God and therefore a subset of His eternal reality. C. S. Lewis discussed this in his essays, The Weight of Glory and Transposition. Biblically, God’s transcendence includes His ways being higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9); His throne being eternal (Psalm 99:2); His word being eternal (Psalm 119:89); His kingdom being eternal (Daniel 4:3); eternal life through faith in Jesus (John 3:15-16); and His unseen eternal glory. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18) 

On a human level, the glory of God includes His unfailing love, His perfect holiness, His unlimited power, wisdom, justice, and goodness. But in eternity, in His presence, are these attributes amplified or are they all intrinsic dimensions of a unified divine nature and essence as Thomas Aquinas said.  Even with all of Scripture, we lack words and concepts to meaningfully discuss this question. Is this a cop-out or a recognition of reality?

We have many questions. The problem of pain remains one of the chief stumbling blocks to faith for many. How can a good God allow terrible evil to occur and sometimes to triumph? Other questions: If God created the universe, where did God come from? If God is love, why did He command the Israelites to kill every man, woman, and child in Canaan? We struggle with the mystery of the Incarnation. Is it fair for God to create human beings with specific attributes - desires and limitations - and then call it sin when they respond to them? The answer to these issues lies in God’s transcendence. We don’t see the whole picture and have to trust Him.

Another aspect of transcendence is human response to being in the presence of God. Being overwhelmed by God’s presence is a not uncommon experience for believers. It is also Biblical. See, for example, Exodus 33:18-23; Joshua 5:14; Leviticus 16:2; Daniel 10:9; Isaiah 6:5; Ezekiel 3:23; Matthew 17:6; Acts 9:4; Revelation 1:17.

I was surprised to read in the last half of the first chapter of Timothy Keller’s book Making Sense of God that even atheists have transcendent experiences. He cites several examples of committed atheists who have described coming “... upon something inherently ‘wholly other’, whose kind and character are incommensurables with our own...” Despite a commitment to explain all human experience in an evolutionary biology framework, they are unable to so explain these experiences. Yet do not bow before the Maker of all things.

What is the point? The most important thing is not any of the following, true though they be: God does not owe us an explanation; If God were to answer our questions, we would be incapable of understanding the answers; We cannot sit in judgment of what God says or does. Instead, the most important observation is this:

God is so amazing that joining Him in His enterprise of redemption will be an adventure that we cannot fathom.