Category: Theology 101
Communicable Attributes
B. Knowledge, Wisdom, Truth.
“For God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.”
God knows everything. The word that is commonly used for this attribute is omniscience. It has a root (science) which means knowledge, and a prefix (omni) which means all. Therefore, omniscience means all knowing. God is omniscient, He knows all that can be known. He knows pi. He knows which team will win this year’s Superbowl. He knows the very minute that I will die. He knows who will accept the gospel and who will reject it.
Furthermore, God knows everything now. God has never learned anything. Sometimes we pray as if we think that we are giving God a piece of information that He does not already have. However, we cannot add anything to God’s knowledge. Whatever can be known, God knows eternally.
Wisdom is a corollary to knowledge, and God has infinite wisdom. He uses knowledge in the best possible way. He is not merely a cosmic computer that has stored all information in an enormous database. Rather, God applies His knowledge to His perfect and good purposes in all wisdom.
Another corollary to knowledge is Truth. God’s knowledge corresponds with reality. Whatever He knows is true, and whatever is true He knows. As the Truth, God cannot be mistaken in His knowledge, nor can He lie or be unfaithful. Falsehood and perfidy are utterly incompatible with Ultimate Truth.