Attributes of Intellect
Typically, theologians have classified some of God's attributes as incommunicable—those things God has that we don't—and some of God's attributes as communicable, meaning we can share in them to some degree. The list of God's communicable attributes can be very long, with most lists counting as many as ten or 15 or 20 different attributes. But I think we can talk about these communicable attributes under three big headings: intellect, will and power. That is, God's thinking, God's choosing, and God's doing. We'll start with God's intellectual attributes.
Under the category of intellect, we can mention three things: knowledge, wisdom, and truthfulness. Although knowledge is considered a communicable attribute insofar as human beings also know things, we have to make clear that God's knowledge is different from ours in both nature and extent. The nature of God's knowledge is archetypal, while ours is echtypal. Unlike human knowledge, God's knowledge is innate and immediate. That is, he does not acquire knowledge by observation, learning, or reason. He cannot increase in what he knows. All that God knows he knows simultaneously, not by successive insights or experiences. God's knowledge also differs from ours in extent. We know in part, God knows everything. God's knowledge of all things past, present, and future is called omniscience. God knows the heart. He knows the ways of men. Scripture says nothing can be hidden from his sight. God knows the place of our habitation, the hairs of our head and the days of our lives. God knows all contingent events and he has certain knowledge of all future events. "No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4. "Great is our Lord, and abundant in power, his understanding is beyond all measure." Psalm 147.
Along with knowledge as a category of intellect, we can talk about wisdom. Louis Berkhoff defines God's wisdom as "that perfection of God, whereby he applies his knowledge to the attainment of his ends in a way that glorifies him most." Scripture often extolls the wisdom of God, especially in Psalms and Proverbs. True, it can be hard to trust the wisdom of God at times. But think about the relationship between a parent and a child. The child doesn't think a spoonful of medicine is a good idea. It tastes bad to the child. But parents know more than their children. They have wisdom that is obvious to them, even if it can be literally hard for the child to swallow. If human parents know more than their children, even though parental ways do not always make sense to their children, surely we can trust the manifold wisdom of God, even when his ways may not make sense to us. Ephesians 3.
Finally, under this category of intellect, we need to say something about God's truthfulness. God is true and trustworthy in all his ways. His veracity is metaphysical in that he is to be distinguished from all false gods. His veracity is ethical and that he cannot lie. And his veracity is promissory, and that he is the faithful God who always keeps covenant and steadfast love. God knows all things and all creatures as they really are. He only and always speaks and does what is the truth.
In short, the God of the Bible knows all things, is wise in all things, and is true in all things. "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"
Kevin DeYoung is the senior pastor at Christ Covenant Church (PCA) in Matthews, North Carolina and associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.
