Though pastors in training often earn Masters of Divinity degrees, they simply cannot master God, but can only be mastered by him, or fail to be. How then can we know God, if he is beyond us? Together with affirming God’s “incomprehensibility,” Calvin emphasized that God graciously overcomes our natural inability so that we truly can know him.

The writings of French reformer, theologian, and pastor John Calvin are often remembered by the Latin phrase “brevitas et claritas”. Calvin wrote to be understood, and avoided using more words than would be helpful. To get to the point then, in English, the phrase means “brevity and clarity”. Unfortunately, many don’t understand Calvin, though this is often because they don’t actually read him, but only what others have written about him. At the same time, others will read Calvin, and yet still not understand him. To be sure, if someone says John Calvin is “incomprehensible,” it is not a complement. However, when Calvin and the broad consensus of Christian thinkers before and after him describe God as “incomprehensible”, it is to God’s glory and praise.

While Calvin wanted his writings about God to be understood, he realized there are limits to explaining God. We need to be careful here. In Christianity, God is knowable. He can be understood with certainty and rightly known. However, “comprehend” paints a picture of encircling and grasping with exhaustive completeness. The God of the Bible, the Creator, is too great to enclose in the limits of creaturely minds. Though pastors in training often earn Masters of Divinity degrees, they simply cannot master God, but can only be mastered by him, or fail to be. How than can we know God, if he is beyond us? Together with affirming God’s “incomprehensibility”, Calvin emphasized that God graciously overcomes our natural inability so that we truly can know him.

Let me note a few memorable passages from Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion [I.xiii.1, I.xiv.1] showing some practical results of affirming God’s incomprehensibility for the big picture of knowing God.

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