ROMANS 11: 33-36
GOD'S INFINITE WISDOM
[Isaiah 55]
For eleven chapters Paul has been sharing the power of the gospel. Step by step he has shown God's way of putting sinners right with Himself, how Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification, how we are united with Christ in His death and resurrection, how the Christian life is lived not under the law but in the Spirit, and, of course, how God plans to incorporate the fulness of Israel and the Gentiles into His kingdom [Stott, John, Romans IVP. Dover Grove, IL. 1994. p. 309]. We have looked beyond the horizon of time into eternity. Now we stop, out of mental breath. Analysis and argument must give way to adoration. Like a traveler who has reached the summit of an Alpine ascent, the apostle looks out and contemplates. Vistas abound as waves of light illumine them, and spreads all around an immense horizon which his eye commands. [F. L. Godet, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Zondervan ed., 1969, p. 416]. O the unfathomable wealth of God's infinite knowledge and unlimited wisdom!
The full wonder of God's glorious wisdom and power are utterly beyond human understanding. It staggers even the most mature Christian mind, including the mind of the apostle himself. God's wisdom is as inscrutable as it is unfathomable to mere humans (CIT). Here are matters of unending praise. Worship should begin where theology ends. Where the reason loses its legs, the heart soars on eagles wings. For here the seeking of the mind gives way to the adoration of the heart and spirit.
So before moving onward to the practical conclusions which flow from the grand and distinct doctrines of the Gospel, the Apostle pauses to marvel at the ground which he had trekked; and, looking back upon the whole, in astonishment and admiration he must exalt his sovereign. God is worthy to be praised, for God knows what He's doing, even when we do not. Paul therefore falls down before God and worships by bursting into a marvelous doxology. His praise is informed by Scripture, and is full of Old Testament phraseology. Yet it is his own expression of humble wonder and dependence as He glorifies God for His wisdom, goodness, and sovereignty.
Few passages, even in the Scriptures, are to be compared with this pouring forth of sublime tribute to God for all the wonders and all the glories of His divine dealings with men.
I. THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE EXCELLENCE OF GOD, 33.
II. THE INDEPENDENT SOVEREIGN, 34, 35.
III. THE SOVEREIGN GOD, 36.
Having ended his argument and affirmed God's sovereignty, integrity, and involvement, he burst forth into a hymn of praise [doxology] for the depth of the riches of God's wisdom and knowledge. Verse 33 transcends theology and enters into majestic worship. "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!"
What an exclamation of astonishment concerning the character and nature our God! Theology turns into a doxology, as Paul just begins to worship. The plan of God for the salvation man demonstrates God's infinite knowledge and His ability to use it wisely. So Paul celebrates the profound riches God's wisdom and knowledge. [For it was the knowledge and wisdom of God that planned salvation through Christ's death on the cross and the wealth of God bestows it as a gift. Oh the inexhaustible, inconceivable depth of both the wisdom and knowledge of God!]
Our God is so good. Who can figure out His ways? Truly, they are unsearchable. I like what J. B. Phillips said: "If God was small enough to figure out, He wouldn't be big enough to worship."
Further description and explanation are completely beyond the realm of human expression and comprehension. Like a mountain climber who has reached the summit of Mt. Everest, the apostle can only stand awestruck at God's beauty and majesty. Unable to further explain an infinite and holy God to finite and sinful men, he can only acknowledge that God's judgments [decrees-decisions] are unsearchable and His ways are unfathomable!
Unfathomable [or "beyond tracing out"] translates anexichniastos, which literally refers to footprints that are untrackable, such as those of an animal that a hunter is unable to follow. [In Ephesians 3:8, its only other use in the NT, it is rendered "unsearchable" and refers to the riches of Christ.] It is the exact idea expressed by the psalmist in declaring of God: "Thy way was in the sea, and Thy paths in the mighty waters, and Thy footprints may not be known" (Ps. 77:19). Only God's own "Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God" (1 Cor. 2:10). [Walvoord, John & Zuck, Roy. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Wheaton, IL : Victor Books, 1983, S. 487].
Our gracious God gives us more than enough truth to know Him, trust Him, and serve Him. But no matter how diligently we may have studied His Word, we must confess with David that "such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it" (Ps. 139:6).
You see, there are things we'll never figure out—election vs. free will, sovereignty vs. responsibility. And although we could spend hours reading and studying, pondering and arguing, some things we'll never reconcile because our brains are too small. Forget trying to figure it all out. Just marvel at the goodness God has shown you! [For God is indeed the Sovereign of all things, the One to whom all are accountable and the One whom all should glorify.]
II. THE INDEPENDENT SOVEREIGN, 34, 35.
In the ascending praise three rhetorical questions that exalt God are advanced. The answer to each of which is obvious and the same. The first two questions, quoted from the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) are found in verse 34. "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?"
To confirm what has just been said the apostle first quotes Isaiah 40:13, which shows that God is the sole Designer of His wise plan. God is infinitely exalted above His creation and totally independent of the supervision or direction of the created. No one knows His mind or gives Him advice. It would be absurd to think that we could know the unsearchable mind of God sufficiently so that our advise could help Him.
Much the same question was put to Job (38-41) when the Lord answered him out of the whirlwind, and all the proud imaginations which he had conceived, in the agitation of his spirit, were in a moment humbled in the dust. Job's responses in 42:1-6. "Then Job answered the Lord and said, (2) "I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. (3) ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?'
"Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know" [NASV].
These things are not the countless things unrevealed from God's mind to us, but the depths of the things which we do know through His self-revelation. Yet even partially knowable truths conceal elements that are far beyond our comprehension (Deut. 29:29). The fullness and extent of God's plans defy the penetration of the human mind.
We do not teach God but we need Him to teach us. We do not save God, but we need Him to save us!
Who has been His counselor? Well, I've tried. "Lord," I pray, "don't forget" and, "by the way"—as if I know what's best for this country, or for this church, or for me personally. Sometimes, I'm amazed at the audacity of my prayers. Prayer is coming to God not to get our will done in heaven, but to get heaven's will done on earth. Prayer is saying, "Lord, what do You want to do in my life, in this church, in our family? What do You want to do?"
The very asking shows both questions to have but one answer: No one. Men can ponder the mind of the Lord, but only the Lord Himself can know it. The wisest of men need counsel from others. Among men, "in abundance of counselors there is victory," or safety (Prov. 11:14). God's only counselor is Himself. For He alone is the spring of all true knowledge and wisdom.
No we should not be God's counselor. He should be ours.
Not only is God greater than our understanding—He's greater than our giving. Paul's third question is also taken from the Old Testament. Quoting Job, verse 35 asks, "Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?"
This free quotation from Job 41:11, testifies to God's as the great giver. No one was before God and none can give to God what has not first been received from Him. God is sovereign, self-sufficient, and free from any obligation except those He places on Himself. He owes the Jew nothing and the Gentile nothing.
He is under no obligation to repay anyone, for no one has ever given Him anything they did not first receive from Him. You can't out give God in time, money, love, or any other commodity. He'll never "owe you one." We cannot place God in our debt for we are incalculably indebted to Him.
Men are justified, not on the ground of their own merit, but of the merit of Christ; they are sanctified, not by the power of their own good purposes, and the strength of their own will, but by the Spirit of God and the Word of God (Jn. 17:7). [Charles Hodge. Romans. Banner of Truth. Mackays. Edinburgh. 1972 ed. p. 379].
We are not God's counselor, He is ours. We do not give to God, He gives to us. Our gifts are only possible because of His gifts to us. In this attempt to reverse roles we dethrone God and deify our mind and wisdom. So the obvious answer to all three questions in "No One."
The implication of these questions is that no one has fully understood the mind of the Lord. No one has been His counselor. And God owes nothing to anyone of us. Isaiah and Jeremiah asked similar questions to show that we are unable to give advice to God or criticize His ways (Isaiah 40:13; Jeremiah 23:18). God alone is the possessor of absolute power and absolute wisdom. Never let the abundance of God's gifts cause you to forget the giver.
III. THE SOVEREIGN GOD, 36.
The doxology concludes in verse 36 with the reason we are all dependent upon Him. "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen."
Here we have the grand truth which lies at the foundation of Christianity (1 Cor. 8:6). All things are of God, for He is the Author of all. He is the source of all things. This statement affirms the sovereignty of God. Divine sovereignty means that God has complete control over all things.
"For from Him…" means everything flows from God. He is the beginning of all things. He is the Alpha. God is the first Cause, the effective Cause, and the final Cause of everything.
He is the supreme purpose of all things. Nothing is excluded: "…and to Him are all things." He is the goal of all things, not only the Alpha, but He is the Omega (the last letter of the Greek alphabet). He's the beginning and the end. Hebrews 12:2: "Keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…"
His deep ways are beyond man's discovering (11:33); beyond man's knowing (34a), beyond man's counseling (v. 34b), and beyond man's giving (v. 35). "All things" come from Him and by means of Him (John 1:3; Col. 1:16a; Rev. 4:11) and are for Him and His glory (Col. 1:16b).
Man is absolute dependant on God for God is the source, the means, and the end of all. If all things come from God and all things have there life (existence) through Him and all things end in Him, what is left to say?
Note again the final ascription. "To Him be the glory forever. Amen." We stand in awe before our gracious Lord and rejoice that from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. Since all things from, through, and to Him, the glory must be His alone. With the twenty-four elders, who "will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne," we proclaim, "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou hast create all things, and because of Thy pleasure they existed, and were created" (Rev. 4:10-11).
Life has its source in God. exists by His resources and runs to Him when its course has been run. God is the only proper One to magnify (1 Cor. 1:31). The Sovereign God deserves the praise of all His creatures (Rom. 15:6; 16:27; 1 Peter 4:11; Rev. 5:12-13).
In the final analysis, all of us are absolutely dependant on God. He is the source of all things, including ourselves. He is the power that sustains and rules the world that we live in. And God works out all things to bring glory to Himself. The all-wise God deserves our praise. Not Unto Us, But Unto Thy Name Be All Glory!
Catch the Spirit and lift the anthem. Meditate on God's attributes, and your soul will be filled with adoration and unspeakable wonder! So much so that we will join with others to exalt our great God!
IN CLOSING,
Here is the paradox. God gave man a mind and it is man's duty to use that mind to the best of his ability, but there are times when all men reach their limit of thought concerning God and His world. There is noting left to do but accept in wonder and bow in adoration.
Bible teacher E. Schuyler English told of a visit to the Orient by Eugene Ormandy and the PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA. In one city, the local orchestra performed Beethoven's Fifth Symphony for the visiting musicians. According to reports, it was not done very well.
At the end of the first movement, the host conductor passed the baton to Eugene Ormandy. What a transformation! You would have thought he had been conducting the local orchestra for years. As the members of the Philadelphia Orchestra listened, they were impressed in a new way their conductor's talent and genius. They realized they had begun to take him for granted and had lost sight of his amazing abilities.
As believers in Christ, we often fall into a similar pattern in our relationship to God. We take Him and His marvelous attributes for granted. Because we are carried along daily by His unending stream of love and mercy, we begin to accept His blessings and goodness as an ordinary part of life. We might even forget what a great God we have, unless we too take time to contemplated His glory anew and give Him the praise due His name.
We close this section of God's relationship with Israel. He sovereignly chose them, equitably deals with them, and eternally promises He will not give up on them. Generations before ours studied this section of Romans and thought, We hear what God has said—but where is Israel today?
We're so blessed because we don't have to say, "Someday, Israel is going to come together." No, we can say, "We've already seen it happen, Lord. Therefore, we also understand that things are going to come together for us as well. You've promised they would, and we trust in You."
Having done his best Paul is content to leave it to the love and power of God. So the inspired apostle's closes out the first eleven chapters of this magnificent epistle. After traversing all the great realities of salvation, Paul ends with an ascription of glory to his Lord. This praise draws a clear line between the doctrinal section and the final five chapters on Christian duty.
"Immortal, invisible, God only wise,"
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise. - Smith
Let's close our service tonight by uniting our praise and worship our God through this Hymn which gives glory to God for His great attributes. "Immortal, invisible, God Only Wise," Hymn # 33.
"To Him be the glory forever. Amen."
