Going back to the beginning, God said “Let there be light”. Any ideas on what God’s purpose might have been?
"The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world.In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.
Its rising is from one end of heaven, And its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat."
Psalm 19:1-6
The universe makes a constant declaration; a perpetual testimonial of The Word Of God. The heavens are a “tabernacle” for the sun, as Heaven is the temple of The Son. Both sun and Son are pervasive, nothing is hidden from them. The Son, is The Word of God, as described in the following verses of Psalm 19.
God expresses Himself through His creation that His imagage bearers would seek, and come to know HIM.
2-cents.
KP
Scripture never gives a single sentence answer, yet it speaks with clarity if we listen to the whole counsel of God. God did not create the universe out of lack or need, for He is self-existent and all-sufficient (Acts 17:24–25). He created to display His glory and to magnify His goodness. Psalm 19:1 declares, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.” Isaiah 43:7 says He formed us “for My glory.” Revelation 4:11 brings heaven’s song: “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”
Yet the glory of God in creation is not abstract. It finds its fullest revelation in the cross. The world was made through Christ (John 1:3), upheld by Christ (Colossians 1:16–17), and redeemed through Christ. The same hands that stretched out the heavens were pierced on Golgotha, and the purpose of creation is ultimately to exalt the Lamb slain (Revelation 5:9–13). Creation exists so that grace might be displayed, mercy revealed, and worship rise to the One who triumphed over sin and death.
So why did God create this universe? To showcase His glory, to manifest His love, and to bring all things into unity under Christ (Ephesians 1:10). The stars shine, the oceans roar, and every breath we take exists to point us back to the crucified and risen Son, in whom all things hold together and through whom God will reconcile all creation to Himself.
J.
@Pater15
I see what you are saying:
Why did God create this universe if He knew it would fall short. If the ultimate purpose was to exalt the Lamb (Jesus) slain (Rev 5:9-13), isn’t it one-sided? Why all this suffering, pain, and sin in the first place? Was there any need to create a universe in the first place?
@Johann
First of all…God doesn’t need us to be known as God.
Next, Orthodoxy is the perfect answer to your question, which is derived from the Scripture and not from human imagination.
In Orthodox Christian tradition, the question of why God created the universe, knowing it would “fall short” through sin and entail suffering, strikes at the heart of oikonomia, that is, the divine economy or plan of salvation. This is not a mere puzzle to be solved but a mystery to be contemplated, as articulated by the Church Fathers and rooted in Scripture.
Firstly, consider the foundational Orthodox understanding of God’s nature: God is triune, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in eternal communion of love. As St. John of Damascus teaches in Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith in Book 1, Chapter 8 (for your reference). God is perfect, lacking nothing, and His act of creation is not born of necessity or deficiency but of sheer agape (self-giving love)
So why create at all?
Because love, by its essence, overflows
The Cappadocian Fathers: St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Gregory the Theologian, emphasise that creation is a gratuitous act, an extension of the intra-Trinitarian love into the “otherness” of the cosmos. God did not need to create; He willed to, in freedom, to share His life with beings capable of communion. As St. Maximus the Confessor elucidates in Ambigua ambiguum 7, creation is the “procession” of divine energies, allowing finite beings to participate in the infinite God through theosis (deification). Without creation, there would be no “other” to love freely, no arena for the manifestaion of God’s mercy, justice and glory.
Yet, God’s foreknowledge of the Fall introduces the crux: If He knew humanity would sin, why proceed?
Here, Orthodox theology rejects deterministic Calvinism or philosophical necessitarianism, affirming instead the primacy of divine freedom intertwined with human freedom. Scripture reveals that God “foreknew” but this foreknowledge is not causative; it is the eternal knowing of a timeless God who exists beyond the sequence. St. Irenaeus of Lyons, in Against Heresies, Book 4, chapter 37, argues that God created humans in His image. (Everyone who reads the bible knows God created us in His image. On YouTube shorts, etc, people do talk about it, but rarely do they speak about its implications.), This implies rationality and free will, to grow toward His likeness through voluntary obedience. The Fall was not predestined or permitted, as true love requires freedom, and freedom entails the risk of rejection. Without the possibility of sin, there could be no authentic virtue, no genuine return to God.
As St. Gregory of Palamas teaches in The Triads that suffering and sin are not part of God’s original intent but consequences of misuse of freedom; yet, in His omniscience, God weaves even these into the tapestry of salvation.
The exaltation of the Lamb is not “one-sided” but the eternal centerpiece of this economy. In Orthodox hymnody, such as the Paschal Canon of St. John of Damascus we sing:
”Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death”
The Incarnation, Crucifixion and Resurrection are not reactive contingencies but eternally foreordained in God’s counsel. St. Athanasius the Great, in On the Incarnation Chapter 1 posits that the Word became flesh to renew creation, but this was the plan:
The Cross reveals God’s humility and love, exalting the Son as the slain Lamb, who redeems the cosmos.
Why Suffering?
It is the path to glory, as Christ Himself endured it (Heb 2:10). In the Orthodox view, drawn from St. Maximus (Questions to Thalassius 61), the universe’s “falling short” (Rom 3:23) is provisional; the ultimate telos is the recapitulation fo all things in Christ, where suffering is transfigured into resurrectional joy.
Creation was not for God’s sake, but for ours, to exist, to fall, to be redeemed, and to become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4)
Without it, the depths of God’s kenotic love would remain unmanifested.
Theologically, this depth extends to eschatology: The universe, though groaning in travail, is destined for transfiguration in the Eighth Day- the eternal Sabbath where sin and pain are abolished. St. Symeon the New Theologian in Hymns of Divine Love 45 visions this as the fulfilment of creation’s purpose: not a return to Eden but an elevation beyond it, where the Lamb’s exaltation draws all to worship (Phil 2:10-11). Thus, creation is not futile but pedagogical, a divine pedagogy leading to eternal communion.
-
Thoughts I fought, Questions I asked Myself, Answers from the Scripture.
'What is the Ultimate Purpose of Creation’
You quote Palamas, Maximus, Basil and hymnody, but my question is whether God Himself has spoken on the matter. Scripture, not councils or mystical Fathers, is the measure of truth. Paul did not say, “All Scripture and the writings of the Cappadocians are God-breathed,” he said, “All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable” (2 Timothy 3:16).
You ask, why create at all? The Bible is not silent. Revelation 4:11 declares, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being.” Creation exists to display His glory. Psalm 19:1 testifies, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.” The answer is not hidden in the language of theosis but plain in the Word: God created the universe so His glory would be revealed.
You also ask, if God knew man would fall, why did He still create? Scripture answers: so that Christ would be exalted as Savior. Ephesians 1:9–10 says He purposed in Himself “to sum up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.” Colossians 1:16 tells us all things were created “through Him and for Him.” Before the foundation of the world the Lamb was slain (Revelation 13:8).
The Fall was not God’s delight, but the cross was always His plan, and through it we see the full weight of His mercy and justice. Without sin there would be no Calvary, without Calvary we would never know the depth of His love.
As for suffering, the Bible again is clear. Romans 8:20–21 says creation was subjected to futility in hope, so that it would one day be liberated into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Hebrews 2:10 explains that it was fitting that God should make the Captain of our salvation perfect through sufferings. Christ Jesus Himself said the grain of wheat must die to bear fruit (John 12:24).
Suffering in Scripture is not a mystical ladder into deification, it is the pathway that magnifies the cross and produces glory in the age to come (2 Corinthians 4:17).
The question you raise is not a mystery left for contemplative poetry but a truth revealed in the gospel: God created the universe to glorify His Son, crucified and risen, so that redeemed sinners might share in His life.
The exaltation of Christ, not the speculations of Palamas, is the center of history. Philippians 2:10–11 concludes it plainly, “At the name of Jesus every knee will bow … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
So yes, creation is an act of love, but that love is nailed to wood, crowned with thorns, raised from the grave, and enthroned forever. That is the reason we exist.
J.
Yes @Johann what you said is right, I’m with it. The difference is, what you said is more cataphatic and what I follow is apophatic but the intent and goal is same.
This is amazing and deep @Johann
Sorry, I may have quoted too much from Church Fathers. That was just to build my case. At times, I become lost in orthodox traditions and history. Pardon me.
So now the question is simple: cataphatic or apophatic?
I think there may or may not be an answer to this, only God knows the right answers.
What do you think @Johann ?
Peace
Cataphatic or apophatic? That is a false choice when God Himself has already revealed the answer in His Word. Scripture is not built on mystical negations but on clear revelation. From the opening line it declares, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
That is not silence, it is God making Himself known in history.
The prophets did not speak in apophatic riddles, they proclaimed, “Thus says the LORD” (Jeremiah 1:9; Ezekiel 2:7). God openly declared His own character: “I am the LORD who exercises steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth” (Jeremiah 9:24).
Most decisively, John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.”
The Greek verb exēgēsato means He has explained, showing that Jesus Christ is the full exposition of God, not an unknowable silence. John 1:14 adds, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.”
Paul confirms it: “In Him all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Hebrews 1:1–2 also makes it plain: “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers by the prophets in many portions and in many ways, has in these last days spoken to us in His Son.”
That is positive revelation, not hidden mysticism.
At the cross God was not apophatically veiled, He was cataphatically revealed. Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The crucifixion is God’s ultimate self-disclosure, His justice, His holiness, His mercy, His love, all made visible in the pierced Son (Zechariah 12:10; John 19:37).Add Isaiah 53 here
So the answer is clear. The Bible does not ask us to choose between apophatic or cataphatic.
It declares that God has revealed Himself fully in Christ Jesus. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).
That is not silence, that is revelation. And it centers not in mystical categories, but in Christ crucified and risen.
My 2 cents.
J.
Thanks @Johann for the discussion.
I appreciate your emphasis on the clarity of God’s revelation in Scripture and in the Incarnate Logos. Indeed, as you rightly noted, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory” (John 1:14). The Orthodox tradition fully affirms this cataphatic dimension: God does not remain utterly hidden, but makes Himself known in history, in the words of the prophets, and above all in Christ.
However, the distinction between apophatic and cataphatic theology is not, in the patristic vision, a “false choice,” but a necessary dialectic. Revelation itself demands both affirmation and negation. As St. Gregory Nazianzen taught, “It is more godly to speak of God in negatives” (Oration 28.4), precisely because even when God reveals Himself, His essence remains beyond human comprehension.
Scripture itself bears witness to this tension. On the one hand, we have the cataphatic proclamations: “God is love” (1 John 4:8), “The LORD is righteous in all His ways” (Ps. 145:17). On the other hand, we encounter the apophatic counterpoints: “No one has ever seen God” (John 1:18), and the doxology of Paul that God “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16). Even Moses, the paradigmatic prophet, was told: “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exod. 33:20). The scriptural witness itself refuses reduction to mere affirmation—it constantly pushes beyond the limits of language.
This is why the Fathers held both together. St. Basil the Great affirmed that “we know our God from His energies, but do not undertake to approach His essence” (Epistle 234). St. Dionysius the Areopagite distinguished between kataphatic theology, which proceeds by affirmation, and apophatic theology, which strips away all predicates, leaving the soul in a “dazzling darkness” where God is known beyond knowing (Mystical Theology I). St. Gregory Palamas systematized this distinction through the doctrine of essence and energies: God is truly known in His uncreated energies, yet His essence remains forever beyond comprehension.
This has direct implications for the revelation of Christ. When John says that the Son has “exegeted” (ἐξηγήσατο) the Father (John 1:18), we affirm with you that Christ is the definitive revelation. Yet, as even that verse begins, “No one has ever seen God.” The Son reveals the Father without exhausting the divine mystery. The Incarnation is simultaneously the fullness of divine self-revelation and the unveiling of the infinite depth that can never be reduced to human concepts.
Isaiah 53 exemplifies this paradox. The prophecy gives us cataphatic revelation: the Servant is pierced, crushed, wounded for our iniquities. Yet the mystery of the Crucified—how the impassible God suffers, how the Immortal dies—is beyond all categories. This is where apophatic theology protects revelation from being collapsed into human comprehension. It forces us to confess, with the Fathers, that the event of the Cross is not merely historical disclosure but ineffable mystery.
Thus, Orthodox theology insists that apophatic and cataphatic are not mutually exclusive but mutually necessary. The cataphatic affirms what God has spoken and revealed; the apophatic safeguards transcendence and prevents idolatry of concepts. As Vladimir Lossky famously summarized: “Apophaticism is the safeguard of dogma”—it ensures that our affirmations remain true without presuming to exhaust the mystery of God.
That is the Orthodox balance: God truly reveals Himself, yet always as the One who infinitely transcends our comprehension.
Peace
You keep pressing with dialectics, but the Word of God is not trapped in a philosophical balance between apophatic and cataphatic. The question is not how men frame God, but how God has revealed Himself. Scripture speaks with clarity.
Yes, no one can see the essence of God and live (Exodus 33:20). Yes, He dwells in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16). But these verses do not erase His revelation, they magnify it. The very same John who wrote “No one has ever seen God” also declares, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory” (John 1:14). The verse continues, “the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known” (John 1:18). That is not dialectic. That is decisive.
The prophets proclaimed, “Thus says the LORD” (Jeremiah 1:9). Christ said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Paul declared, “In Him all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Hebrews 1:2 says, “In these last days God has spoken to us in His Son.” These are not half-revelations that need to be “balanced” with negation. They are God’s own testimony.
And at the cross there is no apophatic silence. Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The pierced hands and the empty tomb are not ineffable riddles, they are the blazing revelation of God’s justice, mercy, and glory. The gospel is not mystery preserved, it is mystery revealed.
So I will not call revelation a “dialectic.”
The Bible never once tells me to approach God in “apophatic unknowing.”
It tells me to look to the Son lifted up (John 3:14–15), to hear His words (John 6:63), to believe His gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3–4), and to bow the knee before Him (Philippians 2:10–11).
God has spoken. God has acted. God has revealed Himself in Christ crucified and risen. That ends the debate.
So much more, but I’ll leave it here.
J.
Sorry for disturbing but @Johann
The Orthodox Church confesses with you that “in these last days God has spoken to us by His Son” (Heb. 1:2). Christ is the full and final revelation, the definitive Word of God.
But the issue is not whether God has revealed Himself; it is how we understand revelation itself. Revelation is not the cancellation of mystery but its unveiling. To reveal does not mean to exhaust. To manifest does not mean to comprehend.
Take John 1:18, which you cited. Yes, the Son “has made the Father known.” But that verse begins with an apophatic statement: “No one has ever seen God.” Both clauses are essential. The Son reveals, and yet God remains unseen in His essence. The same John who says “we beheld His glory” (John 1:14) also records Jesus saying, “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God” (John 6:46). Revelation both discloses and conceals.
This is not human dialectic—it is the structure of Scripture itself. The burning bush revealed God to Moses, yet God remained hidden in the unconsumed fire (Ex. 3:2–6). Isaiah saw the Lord in the temple, but immediately confessed, “Woe is me! For I am undone” (Isa. 6:5). On Mount Tabor the disciples beheld Christ transfigured, but they fell on their faces, unable to bear the light (Matt. 17:6). Revelation is never a reduction of God to human comprehension—it is always encounter with the Uncontainable One who makes Himself known without ceasing to transcend.
This is precisely why the Fathers framed theology in apophatic as well as cataphatic terms. St. Basil taught: “We know our God from His energies, but we do not presume to approach His essence” (Ep. 234). St. Gregory Nazianzen insisted: “It is more accurate to deny Him, since we cannot define Him” (Or. 28.4). And St. Gregory Palamas clarified that God is truly revealed in His uncreated energies, yet His essence remains beyond all knowledge. These were not philosophical speculations but attempts to remain faithful to the pattern of revelation in Scripture itself.
As for the Cross, here again we must guard against collapsing mystery into mere clarity. Romans 5:8 does say, “God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” But how is this demonstration possible? That the impassible God suffers, that the Source of life dies, that the Judge is judged—this is precisely where revelation becomes mystery. The Cross is the ultimate manifestation of divine love, and simultaneously the paradox before which all words fail. As St. Paul himself exclaims: “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh…” (1 Tim. 3:16). Manifested—yes. Exhausted—never.
So when I speak of apophatic theology, I do not mean philosophy set against revelation. I mean fidelity to the biblical and patristic truth that God both reveals and transcends, that His Word is both spoken and ineffable, that Christ both manifests the Father and leads us into the infinite mystery of the Father.
To confess mystery is not to weaken revelation. It is to worship the God who reveals Himself without ceasing to be the One who is “above every name” (Phil. 2:9).
You rightly confess that “in these last days God has spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:2). Christ is the full and final revelation of God, the definitive Word. But the Scriptures also make clear that this revelation is not left as something distant or inaccessible. God Himself ensures by His Spirit that His revelation is not only sufficient, but effectual.
Paul says, “What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man, God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:9–10). This is not hidden mystery. This is the Spirit testifying to believers that the things freely given by God in Christ are made known. The Spirit does not keep us in apophatic unknowing, but bears witness that “we have received… the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12).
Revelation is complete in Christ, but it is the Spirit who applies it to our hearts, leading us to a deeper knowledge of Him. This is why Paul prays in Ephesians 1:17–18 that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened.”
Revelation is not an endless veil of mystery. It is the Son revealed, and the Spirit illuminating, so that we may truly know God in Christ.
Because of this, the apostolic witness is not one of holding tension but of calling believers to action. Paul gives imperatives based on this complete revelation: “Put to death what is earthly in you” (Colossians 3:5). “Walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16). “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).
These imperatives do not spring from partial revelation or from dialectics, but from the clear knowledge of God revealed in Christ and applied by the Spirit.
Paul insists that all Scripture is “God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17).
The revelation is not lacking. It is complete, sufficient, and empowered by the Spirit to bring believers into maturity.
So when I speak of revelation, I do not reduce it to philosophical categories of apophatic and cataphatic. I am speaking of what Scripture itself declares. The Father has spoken in the Son. The Spirit testifies and illumines this revelation to believers. And the apostolic word gives us everything we need to know Christ, to grow in holiness, and to worship the One who has been made known.
Mystery once hidden is now revealed in Christ (Colossians 1:26). The Spirit testifies that revelation to the hearts of believers. The imperatives of Scripture call us to live in light of it. That is not tension. That is clarity. That is the gospel.
…and the testimony of Scripture.
J.
Got it @Johann sir
It’s interesting to know your perspective and to learn from you.
I will surely learn your points. Thanks for your help.
Peace
Sam
I will first say that I’m new here, and not used to this quality of discussion. Bravo to each.
My humble contribution - “God created this universe in order to give Himself the best possible context within which He reveals His maximal greatness to all of His created rational persons, and within which the humans He creates can demonstrate what sort of person they will choose to be.”
A word about the utility of context - “ No word, sentence, concept, or action can be properly understood outside of its relevant definitional context.”
For a simple example, take the word “ Batter”.
Could be a liquid mix for making pancakes, or could be a person standing at home plate, waiting for a pitched baseball, or could be a small boat being dashed against the rocks by waves, or could be what an abusive husband does to his innocent wife.
We can’t define the word without some context.
In Satan‘s accusations against Job, He challenged God that Job’s true self would be revealed in a change of context.
We each have our own personal context, that is unique and unlike any other human being ever born, and it changes every single day.
So God uses the context of this universe to reveal His maximal greatness to all of us rational persons, both in heaven, and on the Earth. And He uses it to give each of us opportunity to demonstrate by our own decisions and intentions, who we choose to be.
Welcome to the forum @Pater15
J.
1 Like
Amen
@Pater15, amazing.
I like your analogy. Welcome to this forum.
We will continue to learn and grow.
Peace
Sam
1 Like
@Pater15 Thanks for this contribution, and thanks for this reminder about “context”.
I hear what you are saying, and I appreciate the idea that we experience God within the context of the created universe. A material being has a location, and so needs a material environment in which he is located. We are “here” because we are not anywhere else, and everywhere else is someplace other than where we are. So, I get your postulate, that God created the universe as a context into which He would place His image bearers, to whom He could then reveal His Glory. (Your example of the homophonic qualities of the words “batter” is heard, but, to me, didn’t help me understand you any better. “Batter didn’t make your point better)” You are understood.
But what you stated is really a “what” God did, and not really a “why”, as I think about your post. For instance, “The Earth is The Lord’s, and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1-2 and 1 Corinthians 10:26) is a “what”, but it does little to tell us “Why”.
The reason I am having a difficulty seeing a context in which God could reveal His majesty, as a reason for creating as material universe, is because the Glory of God was never in need. The Glory of God IS; it WAS and it will always BE. Like the homophone “batter”, creating a material universe didn’t really help, because perfection cannot be “helped” or else it would not be perfection. Creating a universe, or creating a hundred-thousand universes would add nothing to The Fullness of Glory of the self-existent, Holy, Eternal, God. There was a reality in which no universe existed, and there will again be a reality in which our current universe will cease to exist, but the Glory of God (what you are calling “His maximal greatness”) will not have fluttered the tiniest bit throughout the eons of these realities.
The “Why” answer to the question cannot (IMHO) contain any hint of reparation, or fulfilling a need God has, or improving the situation, or making perfection more perfect, if you get my drift. The “Why” can only contain ideas that harmonize with God Expressing Himself, His way, and for His unfathomable reasons (Isaiah 55:8).
Romans 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
“For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?”
“Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?”
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
The elusive “Why” we seek may be forever hidden in the depths of God’s “unsearchable judgements”. Maybe one glorious day He will tell us.
Peace
KP
Thanks @KPuff I’m in 100% agreement about God’s needs - they don’t exist. I think I’m pointing more toward our need (all rational creatures) to understand Him.
Let’s say, for example, that instead of creating Adam and Eve as human beings, God had instead created smallish bubble beings, who live in colonies on pond surfaces. Each bubble person is equipped with an eternal soul, a personality, a limited qualia palette, a conscience, and a low IQ, but a strong sense of humor. They can tactilely sense the contact of each other, but not much else. They glean their sustenance from the water. Their only vice is occasional impatience with jostling, which they communicate by going silent. This would be a very different context than ours.
SO they get along great most of the time, and they giggle a lot.
Now God is the maximally great being. He is nothing like a bubble person. God is greater in every category of great-making properties than any other being that can be conceived. He is without peer in every way. And He loves His little bubble people. He wants to reveal Himself to them as their creator and benefactor and friend, both for their benefit, and for His own good pleasure.
You can’t force someone to be your friend, so that’s off the table. To show Himself powerful, He could scare the heck out of them with a huge storm and lightning and waves and all that. But then they are just scared of Him. He could create them already knowing everything they need to know. But then they are just animals, acting on instinct. Perhaps His intent is more fulsome relationship.
Instead, He decides to enter into their context. Become a bubble person for a while. Lead them to be a little more patient, and enjoy their inside jokes. Teach them Himself by demonstrations of who He is. Speak to them in a still small voice.
This would be an utter act of love on God’s part. He doesn’t need the bubble people for anything, but they do need Him. They just don’t know it, yet.
On your other points, I agree with the scriptures of course. We can imagine a “mystery box” where the unanswerable questions get deposited.
But then there is also Proverbs 25:2 - “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”
God’s demonstration also required a certain context, and He had to become like one of us, stepping in to that context. This context also required evil men who were willing to torture and kill the perfect man who never hurt anyone. Willingly evil men.
Jesus didn’t become greater by being crucified. He simply confirmed who He already was by being willing to be crucified as a demonstration that the entire universe could see, and know for certain who He was.
Eph 3:10 says “His plan is that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.” In other words, the angels are learning who God is, and what He is like, by His revelation of Himself through His love relationship with all believers. The context that He built enables the revelation of who He is, in a way that we and the angels can understand it.
So the why question is answered quite simply. He loves us. He wants us to know Him in an experiential way. And, there is another reason as well.
The other reason…? I’m Listening…
KP
Yes sir - not trying to be coy. I kinda hate it when I write book-long posts.
Actually there are two other reasons. They are connected.
We know from the scriptures that God created angels before He created the earth and everything on it. And in Revelation 12 are some of the most startling words ever written - “And there was war in Heaven…” That’s hard to imagine.
So when He created mankind, in His own image, He didn’t create them in heaven. Satan and his angels had been cast out, and going forward theres a new rule. No knuckleheads allowed. By the way, it seems that Satan (and his angels) didn’t know God very well at all. Satan actually thought he could take God’s place. Since the creation of this universe, and especially Calvary, Satan and his angels have learned a lot about God, because of His use of this context to demonstrate who He is.
The logical entailment is that when God creates any (and every) substantially morally free rational person, the possibility of evil comes into existence at the same time. They might decide they dont have to believe God. If God had created humans in heaven, there probably would have been another disaster sooner or later.
So another reason God created this universe, and put His humans on it instead of in heaven, was to give the humans the best possible context within which they can demonstrate who they choose to be. Will they choose to believe God, or will they choose to believe themselves. Those who choose to believe God will go to be with God eternally when they reach their assigned moment of precious death.
Which brings up a third closely related reason. While we are here in this fallen difficult context, we are daily earning our place in heaven. And all the baptists said “wait, what?!?”
Jesus Himself spoke of the “least”and the “greatest” in heaven. Some will be saved “as though by fire”. By the skin of their teeth. Smelling like smoke.
Others can look forward to crowns and honors and high responsibilities, by their demonstrated faithfulness to God through trials and tribulations on this world that tries to kill us.
So we don’t earn our way TO heaven. Jesus did that for us, But we definitely earn our PLACE IN heaven.