The 'Exegete' of the Father
We cannot know God through thinking alone, but God can and does reveal Himself to men through the Spirit of God, who makes the spirit of man know and experience God's essential being.
A.W. Tozer emphasizes that while human intellect cannot fully comprehend God, it is through the Spirit that we can experience and know Him. He explains that true knowledge of God transcends intellectual understanding and is revealed to the spirit of man. Tozer highlights the mystery of God's nature and the limitations of human wisdom in knowing Him. He asserts that God can reveal Himself to those whom He chooses, and this revelation is not merely intellectual but intuitive, allowing for a deeper connection with the divine.
Text
Elsewhere I have said that we cannot know God by thinking, but that we must do a lot of thinking if we would know Him well. This sounds self-contradictory, but I am sure that the two statements are in full accord with each other. The inability of the human mind to know God in a true and final sense is taken for granted throughout the Bible and even taught in plain words in such passages as these: No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
The world by wisdom knew not God. The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. God's nature is of another kind from anything with which the mind is acquainted; hence when the mind attempts to find out God it is confronted by obscurity. It is surrounded with mystery and blinded by the light no man can approach unto. A consideration of this truth led some thinkers of the past to conclude that since it is impossible for man to discover God by means of any faculties he possesses, God must therefore remain not only unknown but unknowable.
What these men overlooked was that when God desires He can and does reveal Himself to men. The Spirit of God is able to make the spirit of man know and experience the awful mystery of God's essential being. It should be noted that the Spirit reveals God to the spirit of man, not to his intellect merely. The intellect can know God's attributes because these constitute that body of truth that can be known about God. The knowledge of God is for the spirit alone. Such knowledge comes not by intellection but by intuition .
Sermon Outline
- The Limitations of Human Knowledge
- The human mind cannot know God in a true and final sense
- The Bible teaches that God's nature is beyond human understanding
Key Quotes
“The world by wisdom knew not God.” — A.W. Tozer
“The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” — A.W. Tozer
“God's nature is of another kind from anything with which the mind is acquainted;” — A.W. Tozer
Application Points
- We must be open to spiritual revelation and intuition in order to truly know God.
- Our intellectual understanding of God is limited, but God's Spirit can reveal His nature to us.
- We must distinguish between knowing God's attributes and knowing God Himself, which requires spiritual intuition.