"You may know God, but not comprehend Him"
About this Quote
The line draws a boundary between two kinds of grasp. To know is to apprehend truly, to enter into relationship, to recognize what is revealed. To comprehend is to circumscribe, to master something by taking it all in. Finite minds can know the infinite God because God makes himself known; they cannot comprehend him because no creature can contain the Creator. The difference protects both truth and humility: knowledge is real, but it is not exhaustive.
Richard Baxter, the 17th-century Puritan pastor and author of The Reformed Pastor and The Saints Everlasting Rest, pressed this point for practical and pastoral reasons. He ministered amid theological disputes and civil turmoil, and he constantly warned that speculation beyond what God has revealed breeds arrogance and division. Scripture, creation, conscience, and above all Christ provide sufficient light for faith and obedience. Yet that light does not dissolve all mystery. Gods ways are higher than ours, and now we see as through a glass, darkly. Baxter wanted believers to rest in enough, to let partial clarity guide their steps without pretending to have mapped the whole terrain of divinity.
The statement also guards against idolatry of concepts. When a mind claims total capture of God, it has likely captured only its own projection. By distinguishing knowledge from comprehension, Baxter encourages reverent thinking: speak where revelation speaks, fall silent where it does not, and let wonder accompany understanding. The aim of theology, then, is not to cage God in definitions but to be transformed by what is revealed.
This stance fosters both confidence and awe. Confidence, because one can truly know and trust God. Awe, because the known God exceeds every concept and summons love beyond understanding. It is an ethic of intellectual courage paired with humility: seek, learn, and obey, while acknowledging that the deepest truths exceed your grasp without eluding your faith.
Richard Baxter, the 17th-century Puritan pastor and author of The Reformed Pastor and The Saints Everlasting Rest, pressed this point for practical and pastoral reasons. He ministered amid theological disputes and civil turmoil, and he constantly warned that speculation beyond what God has revealed breeds arrogance and division. Scripture, creation, conscience, and above all Christ provide sufficient light for faith and obedience. Yet that light does not dissolve all mystery. Gods ways are higher than ours, and now we see as through a glass, darkly. Baxter wanted believers to rest in enough, to let partial clarity guide their steps without pretending to have mapped the whole terrain of divinity.
The statement also guards against idolatry of concepts. When a mind claims total capture of God, it has likely captured only its own projection. By distinguishing knowledge from comprehension, Baxter encourages reverent thinking: speak where revelation speaks, fall silent where it does not, and let wonder accompany understanding. The aim of theology, then, is not to cage God in definitions but to be transformed by what is revealed.
This stance fosters both confidence and awe. Confidence, because one can truly know and trust God. Awe, because the known God exceeds every concept and summons love beyond understanding. It is an ethic of intellectual courage paired with humility: seek, learn, and obey, while acknowledging that the deepest truths exceed your grasp without eluding your faith.
Quote Details
| Topic | God |
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