God's Transcendence

Tozer and I are in firm agreement that God is in the highest place. That He is exalted above all things, all creation. Tozer then makes a shift that I cannot follow—He claims that God’s transcendence is primarily that of His being. He says, “God is spirit, and to Him magnitude and distance have no meaning. To us they are useful as analogies and illustrations so God refers t them constantly when speaking down to our limited understanding.” And, of course, there is much—a universe full—of our ignorance when it comes to the spirit world or God’s nature, and so God does use analogies to help us understand His nature and the power of His realm. However, I think that Tozer makes a shift in his interpretation of Scripture away from a Semitic understanding toward Greek philosophy.

God’s exaltation, in a Hebraic context, has less to do with God’s physical person rather than his social position. Greek philosophy is always drawn to being, while Semitic thought is always drawn to relationship. Greek philosophy, especially Platonism, believes that to find out what something really is, one must discover its nature, the basis of its existence. Hebraic thought is considerably different. They believe that everything is explained by relationship, one’s place in relation to others. Often, the focus of relationship is focused on authority, who has the right/responsibility to be in charge of others, both commanding them and in caring for them.

In this manner, the Hebrews, when they claimed that God is exalted above everything, is claiming that relationally and authoritatively, God is in charge of all things. When it says in Deuteronomy that God is One, it originally meant that there is no one beside God to share His authority. God is alone, solitary in relation to all other beings. When it says that God created all things, it means that He has the right to hold authority over all created things. When the book of Job deals with the problem of suffering, God’s answer at the end is very unsatisfactory to most Western thinkers, because God is simply re-iterating His position above all creatures, without actually defending His allowing suffering at all. That’s because, for the ancient Hebrew mind, that answer is satisfactory. To have authority and power is sufficient for whatever one does.

However, to rebel against authority is the most dangerous of all propositions. For a slave to stand against master, wife against husband, citizen against government, or government against God is to surrender one’s life and honor. Because life, honor, blessing, power—all that we could want out of life, comes from one’s authority. Thus, when we surrender ourselves to God’s authority, we have set aside the middle man. We do not need to receive blessing from another human, because God, the greatest of all powers, will grant it to us Himself.

To focus on being, in this mindset, is ridiculous. There’s no point to it. However one’s makeup is, it is the position that is most significant. Perhaps it is an interesting insight into the background of authority, but it is the authority that is most significant. That’s what the Bible talks about.