I AM: Infinity
The name of God reveals much of the kind of being God is. The sheer simplicity of the term “I AM” or “He is” belies how many layers of meaning it has. Aseity,1 eternity, immutability, simplicity, and tri-unity are implicit in the term. So, too, is the idea of infinity.
To say I AM THAT I AM, is to say, I am existence. I AM ALL THAT CAN BE. The fullness of being is God’s existence. To say “I AM” without qualification is to say, “I am existence without limit.”
Infinity is, of course, a negative term. As an attribute of God, it tells us what God is not, and not precisely what He is. God is not finite.
Finitude speaks of limits. As finite beings, our existence is necessarily limited. We are limited in how much time we experience, how much space we occupy, how much we know about the world, and how much freedom we have in our existence. God is infinite in all these respects.
He is infinite in respect of space, infinite in extension, or omnipresent. No created place exists without the existence of God. “I am wherever being can be.”
He is infinite in respect of time, infinite in temporality and duration. He is eternal and is equally and fully present in all moments. “I am whenever being can be.”
He is infinite in respect of knowledge. The unknown is a limitation on existence. There is no knowledge, potential or actual, that remains hidden or unknown for God. Indeed, God cannot learn, for learning suggests the assimilation of new thoughts, hitherto unknown ideas. The unknown belongs to finitude. God knows all that is knowable. “I know all that is encompassed by my being.”
He is infinite in respect of mobility. This has reference to God’s freedom. God is always able to do all that He wishes to do. He has no limits on His power (omnipotence), or on the exercise of that power (sovereignty). The only limits on God’s mobility, from a human perspective, are those He has created and chosen to use. Even these are not intrinsic limits on His own mobility, but the outworking of His perfect will within a cosmos of free agents. “I will because I am.”
God is I AM without qualification. He is simply I AM THAT I AM.
This post first appeared on Churches Without Chests, the personal blog of David de Bruyn, who is the pastor of New Covenant Baptist Church in Johannesburg, South Africa. We republish it here by permission.
Image by Eensteen used under aCC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.
- Underived or independent existence. Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “a-seity (n.),” July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7437368768. [↩]