This is my third installment:
Scott Clark recently said:
As a matter of truth, God’s essence is a dark, unrevealed entity. God, as he is in himself (in se) is hidden from us…We know that God’s hidden essence is but we don’t know what God’s essence is. We’re not capable of knowing or understanding that essence.
Now, I don't deny that many Biblical statements about God are analogically true. But is that universal? Is God-talk intrinsically analogical? Does that pertain to every Scriptural statement about God? Let's consider two or three examples:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn 1:1).
According to Clark, when John says the Word was God, that doesn't reveal the essential nature of the Son. That's just a "similitude."
If, so, I'd say Clark's understanding has more in common with John Hick than John Boanerges.
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Num 23:19; cf. 1 Sam 15:29)
According to Clark, when Scripture denies that God is man, that is not to be taken univocally. Rather, something like that is true.
nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything (Acts 17:25).
According to Clark, when Scripture denies that God needs anything, that doesn't reveal the essential nature of God. That's not a univocal truth.
We could go down the list. Quote passages about God's knowledge of the future, &c.
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