by Shannon Abelson

Created on: January 29, 2011   Last Updated: January 31, 2011

How do we define God? How would we go about defining the indefinable? The idea of God presupposes that God’s reality is too complex for human beings to ever fathom. For this reason, it would be much more pragmatic to examine what we mean when we speak the word, “God.” Understanding what people imply grammatically when speaking about God will help us to understand to what being the term refers. The term “God” of course is usually used to refer to a physical being. While there are some variations on this, most of the world’s religions will accept this premise. It is then necessary to determine what type of being is described by this name.

There are most often three big associations with the name, “God,” the first of these being that God is omniscient. God’s Omniscience enables Him (Her?) to have unlimited and unrestricted knowledge of all things. This capacity is of course, inaccessible to any being other than God. So when we refer to being named “God,” we refer to a being that possesses infinite knowledge. There is an argument against this theory of an omniscient God which claims this assertion obliterates our capability of free will. If God knows all that has happened, will happening and is currently happening, how we can act any differently? This is called the pre-determinism argument; all of our actions are known by God before we act, so we can never act in a way that deviates from God’s plan. Nonetheless, most often we accept this idea of an omniscient God because if we did not, we would posit a restriction on God’s infinite power.

This brings us to the next point: when we speak of “God” we also mean to reference a being with absolute power. The word, “God” grammatically implies omnipotence. This also gives us great insight into the type of being God is meant to be. God is supposed to possess boundless power over all things. Biblical accounts constantly reinforce this association by recounting stories of God’s wrath or benevolence. God can be wrathful, as in the story of the great flood, or God can be supremely benevolent as in the bestowment of His son as a salvation for the world. These accounts clearly indicate that we perceive of God as a being that holds limitless power and can will anything.

Additionally, the grammatical definition of “God” usually denotes a being that is atemporal. God’s omniscience and omnipotence are both founded upon the principle that He resides outside of time. In order for him to simultaneously see, know and control all happenings in the universe past, present and future, God cannot be a temporal being. God also is described to have no beginning and no end, further cementing the notion that He is exempt from the constraints of time. Temporality constrains ones existence; humans, as temporal beings, cannot know the future and are mortal. Defining God as an atemporal being is the logical implication of his omniscience, omnipotence and immortality.

While these associations barley scratch the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what we mean when we refer to God, they at least provide a stable grammatical foundation for further inquiry. The idea of God is one that is meant to be too complex for human beings to ever fully grasp. Given this realization, it would be a Sisyphean task to attempt to produce a concrete definition of God. Rather it is more sensible to think about God in terms of what we associate with Him and what we mean when we speak of Him. 

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