In light of Isaiah 6:1-7, how does God's holiness factor into the doctrine of divine incomprehensibility? If sinful creatures cannot approach God, on what basis can we even begin to hope to know God? Is this good news? Why or why not?
God is depicted in the Old Testament as “Holy, holy, holy” (Isa 6:3), that is, holy like no other. Theologians have identified God’s holiness in terms of His moral perfection and His otherness (or transcendence). The latter is relevant to our question. Although human beings were made in the divine image, God still holds the status of being truly ‘other.’ God is a se (exists independently of anything else), necessary, eternal, immaterial, morally perfect, all-powerful, and all-knowing. Humans, on the other hand, are contingent, corporeal, corruptible, and finite. Thus, the Creator/creature distinction must be foundational to our understanding of incomprehensibility.
Once we have clarified that God is incomparably holy in terms of His otherness, it is easy to see why God is incomprehensible. By divine incomprehensibility I do not mean that God is unknowable, but rather that God cannot be known exhaustively due to human finitude. As the question alludes, God’s moral holiness prevents us from approaching Him on the basis of our moral corruption. How can someone so holy and pure be approached by such a rebellious people? Well, because of His unparalleled love for us He displays His mercy to us by graciously providing a way for our sins to be atoned for. Similarly, on our own, because of the Creator/creature distinction, we would hopelessly search for a God we cannot find. However, there is one way in which we can hope to know God: only if He reveals Himself. God’s self-revelation, in various forms I might add, most notably through the Scriptures, should only be seen as a complete act of grace.
Since God has chosen to reveal Himself to us, we do have the hope of knowing God personally. This is quite good news, namely, because it demonstrates that God desires for us to know Him for some purpose. What is His purpose? Certainly nothing out of obligation. Rather, His purpose in revealing Himself is to establish a personal love-relationship with His people so that they might share in the beauty of the inner triune life of God.
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