by Orestes J. Gonzalez

Created on: March 28, 2009   Last Updated: June 24, 2011

In this version of my understanding of God, I revise my modified version of the article to provide a shorter text and also to express myself more clearly and more precisely in the terminology of 'being.'

Through the exercise of the power of the intellect we acquire and increase comprehension and understanding of other things, of ourselves, and of the harmony and order of the universe.

The activity of understanding belongs to intelligent beings.

Now the group of intelligent beings comprises men, angels, and God. And all these intelligent beings can have God as object of their understanding.

God's understanding of Himself surpasses everyone else's. God's knowledge is the all-embracing knowledge of the divine essence which only He knows in fullness. Angels and men do not know the full measure of the essence of God.

Angels and men were created to possess understanding of God only to a certain degree and in accordance with their creatureliness. God, on the other hand, is the Supreme Intellect who knows absolutely everything, including Himself, to perfection. Angels and men are said to participate in the divine knowledge to the extent that their capabilities permit.

Now understanding and knowledge are reflected in language.

We give names to things according to the knowledge we have of the nature of things. And this is true of our knowledge of God as well.

There is indeed a variety of perspectives from which to express our understanding of God.

But when we make God the object of our knowledge, we face the fact that we cannot know the essence of God in fullness. Thus, because our understanding of God is limited, the terminology we use to express our knowledge of God is also limited.

The terminology of 'being,' however, is known to provide the best fitting name to apply to God.

It is known that there is nothing more characteristic of God than 'to be,' because, properly speaking, that itself which 'is' does not belong to those things which will one day end or to those which had a beginning.

Beginning and end do not apply to God. God is absolutely beyond time.

The 'being' of God is the eternity of God. And the eternity of God is inscribed in the terminology of 'being.'

The formulation of our understanding of God in the terminology of 'being' has its roots in two sources: (a) the principles of revelation and (b) the metaphysical principles of the real.

From the side of revelation, God Himself revealed His name to Moses saying, "I am He Who is" (Exod. 3:14).

And through

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