Bite-Sized Theology: Sound theology, served in small portions for busy Christians.
The doctrine of God’s simplicity is one that is arrived at both explicitly from the pages of Scripture and implicitly from logical deductions of other clear teachings of Scripture. In its most simple definition, simplicity describes the reality that God is not a compound being. He is not composed of a variety of different parts. For, if God were composed of various parts, then we must assume another being higher than God who functioned as God’s designer, who fit the various pieces together. This is of course absurd, and therefore we can rightly deduce that God is a simple being.
We might consider humans as a counter example for greater understanding. Humans are made of parts that have been put together by our God. We have physical parts: our head, arms, and legs. If someone was to remove one of their legs, their fundamental essence would be unchanged. They would still be them. We also have nonphysical parts, or attributes. We might be kind, diligent, and trustworthy. Of course we have these attributes only in degrees, not in their infinite essence. The kindest person in the world is not infinitely kind. Further, if that person had a bad day and said an unkind thing, nothing of their essence would have changed. They would still be them. In other words, you could remove their kindness (a part of them) and they would not lose the essence of themselves. In contrast, God is not composed of parts. His attributes are not removable or distinct from his essence.
While there is no passage in scripture that states that God is “simple” in this sense, it is demonstrated scripturally in the fact that God is not only described in the Bible as having certain attributes, but rather he is often described as being the essence of those very attributes. So, God is not only loving, but he is love. God is not only wise, but he is wisdom. God is truth, righteousness, life, and light. In other words, the infinite essence of each of those words is not just a part of God (for then God would be composed of various parts), but rather is God himself. This means that every name and attribute that we use to describe God (righteousness, wisdom, love, truth, infinite, etc) always refers to the same full divine being, but each time from a different particular angle by which we as creatures understand something real and tangible about the infinite God we worship.
This means that the various attributes of God are not parts of God that can be removed from his essence. One can no more remove righteousness from God’s essence as one can remove God from God’s essence. It is still proper and good for us to consider all of his various attributes on their own terms because we are finite creatures who require human language to describe infinite realities. In truth however, each of the attributes of God (eternity, immensity, omnipresence, truthfulness, faithfulness, etc) are all descriptions of the one same essence. As the great Petrus Van Mastricht has written, “All the attributes together in God are nothing but one certain most simple and most pure act, his very essence, and his infinite perfection.”
Some throughout history have questioned this doctrine. The big idea that has formed the bulk of the challenges to God’s simplicity, is our concept of the Trinity. How can God simultaneously be simple and three-in-one? On the surface it sounds like a decent argument. But it simply misses the idea of the Trinity. In saying that God is a Trinity, we do not say that God is composed of three parts, each with their own essence. Rather we say that God is of one essence, and that all three persons of the Trinity share that one essence. The three persons of the Trinity have one will, one power, one glory, and one essence. The distinction between the three members of the Trinity is not a distinction of essence, but a distinction of relation. The “son-ness” of the Son, is not defined by his essence which he shares infinitely and perfectly with the Father, but in terms of his relationship to the Father.
There is divine mystery here. And yet there is also infinite wonder. The God we worship is not like us. All of his attributes are infinitely glorious. All of his characteristics are eternally wonderful. Who is like our God?
