Chapter # 11 Paragraph # 6 Study # 1
June 23, 2019
Humble, Texas
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1769 Translation:
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable [are] his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, [are] all things: to whom [be] glory for ever. Amen.
1901 ASV Translation:
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
35 or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
36 For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things. To him [be] the glory for ever. Amen.
- I. Paul's Outburst of Praise As The Conclusion to His Explanation of God's Larger Plan.
- A. The summary of the plan: God shut "the all" up unto "unpersuasion" in order to show mercy to "the all".
- 1. In the great cycle of God's dealings with humanity, He first "shut up" the whole of humanity unto "unpersuasion" so that even the magnitude of The Flood and the indisputability of the Confusion of Language did not "persuade".
- 2. Then He turned to Abram to show mercy to him and to his Seed to build a great nation through which He would confront the nations for their "unpersuasion".
- 3. Eventually, after many centuries, He then "shut up" the whole of "Israel" unto "unpersuasion" so that in spite of a long history of divine, beneficial interventions and disciplinary impositions, and the climax of the ministry of Jesus with miracles, signs, and wonders, "Israel" was hardened and "unpersuaded".
- 4. He then turned back to the whole of humanity, abandoned after Babel, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit Who gave utterance to the disciples in the languages confused at Babel, to show mercy by presenting to them The Gospel of Reconciliation.
- 5. Afterwards He presented a prophetic scenario in which there will be another cycle of "shutting up" unto "mercy", wherein the whole of humanity is once again subjected to His wrath in rejection, and the whole of Israel is shown the final demonstration of mercy by which "all Israel shall be saved". There is even another, more distant, prophetic scenario in which the "cycle" is finished as the "rebels" against Messiah's rule gather against Jerusalem and are suddenly destroyed, after which The Judgment takes place that will usher in the eternal kingdom in a new heavens and earth in which righteousness (alone; no contradictions) dwells.
- B. The details of this "outburst of praise".
- 1. The focus: The Depth of the Wealth of Wisdom and Knowledge Possessed by God.
- a. The word translated "depth" is consistently used in the New Testament to refer to "a vast distance beneath the obvious-to-man surface".
- b. In some cases there is at least a hint of "negativism" as if the "depth" has some kind of "destructive" aspect (Romans 8:39 suggests that "the depth" might contain something that would undercut God's loyalty to His elect, but does not; Luke 5:4 suggests that "the deep" has both a positive aspect [where a great catch of fish exists] and a negative aspect [in that it might kill a man if he was subjected to it]; 2 Corinthians 8:2 presents a "depth" of poverty that could be destructive of generosity but was not; and Revelation 2:24 presents the significant destructiveness of the "deep things of Satan").
- c. The major point is that men only have "superficial" access to the realities of both creation and the uncreated realities of God. This is an inevitable and inescapable consequence of being "creatures" of finite capacities, in contrast to the infinite qualities of the glory of God. God, on the other hand, has a "depth" to Him that is totally beyond everything that has been created. The main issue: God's profound wealth of wisdom and knowledge is "off of man's radar" so that he has no clue as to the issues and outcomes.
- 2. This "depth" is identified in terms of "riches".