Invisible visibility

178 invisible visibleI find it amusing when people say, "If I can't see it, I won't believe it." I hear this said a lot when people doubt that God exists or that he includes all people in his grace and mercy. In order not to offend, I would point out that we do not see magnetism or electricity, but we know that they exist by their effects. The same is true of wind, gravity, sound, and even thought. In this way we experience what is called “imageless knowledge”. I like to point to such knowledge as of "invisible visibility."

For years, relying only on our eyesight, we could only speculate as to what was in the heavens. With the help of telescopes (such as the Hubble telescope) we now know much more. What was once “invisible” to us is now visible. But not everything that exists is visible. dark matter e.g. B. Does not emit light or heat. It is invisible to our telescopes. However, scientists know dark matter exists because they figured out its gravitational effects. A quark is a tiny speculative particle from which protons and neutrons form in the nucleus of atoms. With gluons, quarks also form even more exotic hadrons, such as mesons. Although none of these constituents of an atom have ever been observed, scientists have demonstrated their effects.

There is no microscope or telescope through which God can be seen, as there is to us the Scriptures in John 1,18 says: God is invisible: “No man has ever seen God. But his only son, who knows the Father intimately, showed us who God is.” There is no way to “prove” God's existence by physical means. But we believe that God exists because we have experienced the effects of His unconditional, all-surpassing love. This love is of course highly personal, intense and concretely revealed in Jesus Christ. In Jesus we see what his apostles concluded: God is love. Love, which cannot be seen in itself, is God's nature, motivation and purpose. As TF Torrance puts it:

"The constant and unceasing outflow of God's love, which has no other reason for its action than the love which is God, has therefore been poured out without regard for persons and without regard for their reactions" (Christian Theology and Scientific Culture, p.84).

God loves because of who he is, not because of who we are and what we do. And this love is revealed to us in God's grace.

While we cannot fully explain the unseen, such as love or grace, we know it exists because what we see is partially there. Notice I use the word "partly". We don't want to fall into the trap of conceit that the visible explains the invisible. TF Torrance, who studied theology and science, states that the opposite is true; the invisible explains the visible. To explain this he uses the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20,1:16), where the vineyard owner hires workers all day to work in the fields. At the end of the day, every worker gets paid the same wages, even if some have worked hard all day and others only worked a few hours. To most workers, this seems unfair. How could someone who works an hour get the same wages as someone who works all day?

Torrance points out that the fundamentalist and liberal exegetes miss the point of Jesus' parable, which is not about wages and justice but about God's unconditional, bountiful and powerful grace. This grace is not based on how long we have worked, how long we have believed, how much we have studied, or how obedient we have been. God's grace is based entirely on who God is. With this parable, Jesus makes "visible" the "invisible" nature of God's grace, which sees and does things very differently from us. God's kingdom is not about how much we earn, but about God's superabundant generosity.

Jesus' parable tells us that God offers His wonderful grace to all people. And while everyone is offered the gift in the same measure, some immediately choose to live in grace in this reality and thus have the opportunity to enjoy it longer than those who have not yet made that choice. The gift of grace is for everyone. What the individual does with it is very different. When we live in God's grace, what was invisible to us has become visible.

The invisibility of God's grace does not make it any less real. God gave himself to us so that we could know and love him and receive his forgiveness and enter into a relationship with him as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We live by faith and not by sight. We have experienced His will in our lives, in our thoughts and actions. We know God is love because we know who he is in Jesus Christ, who "revealed" him to us. As it is in John 1,18 (New Geneva translation) is written:
“No one has ever seen God. The only Son revealed Him to us, He Who is God Himself, seated at the Father's side.” We feel the power of God's grace as we also experience His purpose to forgive and love us—the wonderful gift of His to give grace. Just as Paul says in Philippians 2,13 (New Geneva Translation) puts it: “God himself is at work in you, making you not only ready but also able to do what pleases him.”

Living in His grace,

Joseph Tkach
President GRACE COMMUNION INTERNATIONAL


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