Thomas Jefferson continues to elicit a wide-range of reactions. Jefferson had a brilliant mind and engaged with Christianity in ways that were both sympathetic and critical. Along with many others during his time, Jefferson was intrigued by several principles from the Enlightenment era, which influenced his perception of Christianity. Jefferson embodied a tension over issues… Download Audio
From his books to the chalkboard, R.C. Sproul communicated the deep things of God in an accessible way. When asked what the core of his legacy was all about he exclaimed, “Classical Theism!” But Sproul’s commitment to classical theism was foundational to his defense of the faith as well, which explains why Sproul was so… Download Audio
What should we think of Plato? Do his ideas have any profit for Christianity? Can the Platonic philosophical heritage serve Christianity as a handmaiden to biblical interpretation and theological construction? These questions concerning the relationship between philosophy and theology have been discussed and debated by Christians from the very beginning. At the heart of the… Download Audio
How can we hold our systematic theology in one hand and take seriously the exegetical task in the other? How do we interpret scripture in light of Christ’s two natures? Throughout church history, biblical scholars and theologians alike have turned to partitive exegesis as a helpful tool in the interpretive task. In light of the… Download Audio
C.S. Lewis has become a household name in contemporary culture. While many appreciate Lewis for The Chronicles of Narnia or Mere Christianity, most don’t realize the reason these works are so magnetic. C.S. Lewis was a medieval man with a medieval mind who spent his entire life teaching students the medieval world. Throughout his life, Lewis… Download Audio
We often approach the Scriptures as if we must keep all that theology out. We might even read the Old Testament as if we should not look ahead to the New Testament, lest we introduce theological doctrines which prejudice our exegesis. But could this approach rob us of those many riches that the history of… Download Audio
John Webster is one of the most profound theologians in recent history. While some may not recognize the name, his works have set a trajectory for theology and dogmatics in evangelical scholarship. Webster not only had a great understanding of the Great Tradition and a deep grasp of exegesis, but he also summoned the next… Download Audio
The external works of the Trinity are undivided. Until recently, this statement was an uncontroversial affirmation of the doctrine of inseparable operations. In fact, for nearly two millennia, inseparable operations were simply assumed to be an integral premise of the Christian faith. Yet modern treatments of the Trinity have left the essential unity of the… Download Audio
In the 21st century Christians have proved one thing with their fiery rhetoric: we fear man instead of God. That misplaced fear has created extreme hostility towards others in society. That misplaced fear has been exposed lately when Christians engage controversial topics such as Christian America, cancel culture, martyr complex, LGBTQ+, racism, and more. Yet… Download Audio
Back during my seminary days, our family lived in Louisville, Ky. One of the advantages of living in Louisville was the occasional trip to Homemade Pie and Ice Cream, which had the most scrumptious pies in town. Each year, people from all over the country, even the world, travel to Louisville for the famous Kentucky Derby. Before the race, the festivities are marked not only by flamboyant hats and mint juleps but also by most bakeries’ selling out of their Derby pie.
I enjoy a classic Derby pie, but there is one pie I enjoy even more: Homemade Pie and Ice Cream’s award-winning Dutch apple caramel pie. Truth be told, the caramel on the pie is so thick that you need a butcher’s knife to cut through it. But let’s say you’ve found your knife and you begin dividing up the pie—a fairly large piece for me, thank you, and perhaps smaller pieces for everyone else.
It kills me to admit this, because a theologian is always looking for an insightful illustration wherever he can find one, but Dutch apple caramel pie is a poor illustration for what God is like. That’s right, a really bad one. And yet it’s how many people think about God’s attributes. In fact, it’s what makes me nervous about writing on the different attributes of God, as if we’re slicing up the pie called “God.”
The perfections of God are not like a pie, as if we sliced up the pie into different pieces, love being 10 percent, holiness 15 percent, omnipotence 7 percent, and so on. Unfortunately, this is how many Christians talk about God today, as if love, holiness, and omnipotence are all different parts of God, God being evenly divided among His various attributes. Some even go further, believing some attributes to be more important than others. This happens most with divine love, which some say is the most important attribute, what they might call the biggest piece of the pie.
But such an approach is deeply problematic, as it turns God into a collection of attributes. It even sounds as if God were one thing and His attributes another, something added to Him, attached to who He is. Not only does this approach divide up the essence of God, but it potentially risks setting one part of God against another. (For example, might His love ever oppose His justice?) Sometimes this error is understandable; it unintentionally slips into our God talk. We might say, “God has love” or “God possesses all power.” We all understand what is being communicated, but the language can be misleading. It would be far better to say, “God is love” or “God is all-powerful.” By tweaking our language, we are protecting the unity of God’s essence. To do so is to guard the simplicity of God.
Simplicity and the Wisdom of the A-Team
Simplicity may be a concept that is new to your theological vocabulary, but it is one that has been affirmed by the majority of our Christian forebears over the past two thousand years of church history, even by some of the earliest church fathers. And for good reason, too. Let’s consult Augustine, Anselm of Canterbury, and Thomas Aquinas.
