Daily Question Feb 11

Read the chapters from Exodus and the excerpt from Ratzinger. Then, answer the question “Who is God?”

Before anything else, I think it’s important to note that answering the question, “who is God?” is not an easy, nor even possible, task. Any single description or depiction of who He is, however accurate it may be, will inevitably fall short. God is infinite and shrouded in mystery. We, in contrast, are finite, which means that seeing through the mystery and deciphering who He is completely is an impossible task. Nevertheless, the question isn’t useless. Examining who God is to the best of our ability is a useful exercise, because everything about Christianity — our theological positions, our view of God, our mode of worship — depends on who we believe God to be. Looking solely to the passages in Exodus 1-18, I see God as the embodiment of certain characteristics which are revealed through His actions.

In Exodus 3, God reveals himself to Moses through the burning bush. This one episode reveals so many things about God. He is supernatural and His capabilities far exceed our own (3:2). He is holy (3:5). He is merciful, relational, and He knows us intimately (3:7). He is a Savior and Deliverer (3:8). He is a comforter (3:12). He is mysterious (3:14). He is eternal and ever-present (3:15). He is wise (3:19). He is powerful (3:20). These observations about God are all true and pertinent, but perhaps the most important realization is that God is someone who is with us and fights on our behalf, but commands us to take part in His plan, as shown in Exodus 4:12, “Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” Throughout the remaining chapters, God continually reaffirms His promise of deliverance of the people of Israel from their bondage to the Egyptians. In doing this, He also demonstrates His utter power and dominion over the earth through the ten plagues, each of which serves a unique purpose. The tenth plague and the Passover is a great summation of God’s power and His use of it to protect and deliver His chosen people.

Joseph Ratzinger’s commentary elaborates on the identity and meaning of God and highlights some important aspects of who He is. I like his inclusion of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s perspective about the person of God, that we ought to find God “not in the moments of need and failure, but amid the fullness of earthly life,” to definitively show that “God is not an escape, constructed by necessity.” I fully concur with Bonhoeffer’s assessment, and I think it raises the interesting point that God exists in his entirety without depending on man whatsoever, and that we were created by Him to live in communion with Him at all times, good, bad, and everything in between. He is a relational and personal God, then, but it’s necessary for us to participate in this relationship regardless of external factors, “amid the fullness of earthly life.” Ratzinger also discusses the importance (and added complexity) of considering faith when determining who we believe God to be, because the Christian religion necessitates the constant act of faith. That faith, however, is in a very specific and absolute conception of a single God, not in monotheism, not in secular philosophies or atheism, and not in earthly power. To that end, he draws a stark contrast between God (divine power) and the world (power present in the world), highlighting the “struggle against the worship of power” present in Christianity. God, then, must be more than just a powerful figure. He must be a personal Being, who despite His complexity, seeks to know us and desires for us to know Him as wholly as possible.

To summarize, God is mysterious and endlessly complex, but a good understanding of Him is necessary in order to properly put faith in Him, so we can look to the depiction of God in Exodus and the rest of Scripture to see for ourselves the true character of God. Ultimately, He is characterized by many things, but the thing that stands out to me is the deeply intimate nature of Him, that through all the mystery, He desires more than anything a communion, a personal relationship with mankind. And this understanding of God makes perfect sense given that the overarching narrative of revelation is the restoration of communion with Him.