In Front | Talking About God

Christian attempts to talk about God are sometimes divided into two categories by theologians. One approach to talking about God tries to describe Him analogically, and by using familiar adjectives to define His character and personality. This is known as cataphatic theology, which is rooted in the Greek for “speaking affirmation.” The other approach describes God by saying what He is not like, using negative statements to define Him according to what He isn’t. This is known as apophatic theology, a term rooted in Greek meaning “to deny.”

The apophatic and cataphatic approaches are common in the Bible and is helpful especially in the early stages of our study and relationship with God. We begin to know Him better by making connections with familiar attributes and situations, just like we get to know people in life by learning that they are honest or deceitful or funny. The apophatic approach is also present in the Bible and is important as we continue to distinguish God from people. This approach reminds us that beyond every parable or analogy, God is greater and bigger than we are able to comprehend.

One of the better known examples of cataphatic theology in the Bible would be the simple statement in 1 John 4:16 that “God is love.” An example of biblical apophatic theology would be the comment in Numbers that, “God is not human, that He should lie, not a human being, that He should change His mind” (Num 23:19, NIV). Of course some passages include both approaches, as we learn both what God is and what God isn’t or does not do in a single comment.