As Simple as That

Sometimes the words we use are deceptive. I mean the very words. Take, for instance, the word "obfuscation". To obfuscate is to cover or confuse, to render obscure or unclear. Yet, to use the word "obfuscate" would be to confuse people. Take the concept of the Perspecuity of Scripture. It simply means that those things in Scripture necessary for salvation and faith can be understood without advanced classes or special education. "Perspecuity" refers to that which is clearly expressed and easily understood ... even though the word "perspecuity" is neither.

Consider, then, the theological principle of the Simplicity of God. "Now, wait a minute," you will surely (even hopefully) object, "if there is anything God is not it is simple." And thus the confusion about the word, "simple." The principle is not that God is simple as in easy to grasp or basic in design or any such thing. The idea is that God is God. God is not made up of various parts, properties, attributes, or divisions. He is God. He is not a compound being; He is One. There is no distinction between God and His attributes. There is no contradiction or competition in God's attributes. He is fully God in Himself, in all His attributes.

Biblically, the principle comes from a couple of Old Testament references as well as the natural conclusions from those references. One is God's clear statement, "The LORD our God, the LORD is one" (Deut 6:4; Mark 12:29). Unity. Singular. Not one of many; one. Not one with multiple components; one. The second key reference is in Exodus. God told Moses, "I AM WHO I AM" (Exo 3:14). God is self-existent, complete. Contained in that is His entire Being, the One in whom all things exist (Col 1:17). He is the One who fills all in all (Eph 1:23).

That is the Simplicity of God. He's not a complex being; He is One. Now, to be fair, that whole idea is not simple to grasp, and we're back to the confusion with the word, "simple." But He is certainly different than we are in this. We are composed of multiple parts. There is what we do and there is what we are. We are told, for instance, to "love the sinner but hate the sin" because the two are distinct. But God is simple; He is what He does and He does what He is. We have thoughts and ideas that are not us; they're our thoughts and ideas. God is what He thinks and thinks what He is. In theological terms, we have existence and we have essence; God does not. His existence and His essence are the same.

Without knowing it, this idea comes up a lot in discussions -- usually incorrectly. "Sure, God is a just God," they will tell us, "but He is also a merciful and loving God." That much is true, but the implication (or perhaps even the explicit conclusion) is that God mitigates His justice with His love and mercy. "Sure, He's a just God, but He sets aside His justice to give forgiveness." It is a mistake to think that one of God's attributes is cancelled or altered by another of God's attributes because God is One.

This is the answer to the famous "Euthyphro dilemma": Is something good because God wills it or does God will it because it is good? Since good resides in God, it is clearly the former. Good does not exist apart from God, nor is God divisible from good that is His character. "But," the dilemma objects, "that means that God could have just as easily willed the opposite and we'd have to call it 'good'." Only if you misunderstand the Simplicity of God. It is good because it is God's character and God cannot will "not" His character. We know that God is love (1 John 4:8). He doesn't just possess love. Love is defined by God and who He is. In the same way, God is good and good is defined by God and who He is.

The Simplicity of God is important. It prevents us from raising our favorite attributes of God -- say, love or mercy or grace -- above our less favorites, like His wrath and justice. He is perfect in love and perfect in justice, perfect in grace and perfect in holiness. It also keeps us in mind of the unavoidable fact that He is not like us. We are multifaceted people with body and soul and spirit, with attributes and behaviors, with all sorts of aspects. God is His attributes and behaviors. And the Simplicity of God is the only means by which God can maintain perfection in all that He is. If He were not all that He is, some of what He is would change, would diminish or increase. Not God. It makes Him "solid," in a sense. He's not going to change. And it gives us the certainty that when He is just, He is loving, and when He is merciful, He is opposed to sin, and when things don't look pleasant, He is still, always, good.