'None Greater: The Undomesticated Attributes of God' by Matthew Barrett is an excellent survey of historically orthodox doctrine regarding the attributes of God.
Admittedly, I recently read this recommended book after reading another recommended book - a certain ‘Gentle and Lowly’ by Dane Ortlund which is enjoying popularity in the U.S. right now.
If I can admit as much honestly, I was really bothered by a number of claims and arguments made in Ortlund's book, but couldn’t at first quite put my finger on why. The more I grappled with what specifically was bothering me about 'Gentle and Lowly', the more I realized I needed to figure out whether the problem was with the book or with me – or both.
Certainly, this is not an either/or proposition. Both can be true at the same time. But on that point, as Ortlund clearly agrees, what and how precisely we believe about God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is of the utmost importance. Otherwise he would not have written 'Gentle and Lowly,' and presumably no one would be reading it.
Beyond this, though, whenever someone suggests a radical change to the way we think about God, we should be diligent and tread lightly, irrespective who they are. We should imitate the noble Bereans spoken of in Acts, and search the Scriptures daily to see whether the things being claimed are so.
What proves true according to a careful reading of the Biblical text, we must allow ourselves to be transformed by the renewing of our minds in Christ Jesus according to. And this is because the point at the end of the day is not to either agree or disagree with this or that contemporary author - either Barrett or Ortlund, or anyone else. Instead, the point needs to be to agree with God because God is always right.
Nevertheless, I am glad for having been provoked to search the Scriptures, Church History, and Theology more deliberately to shore up some gaps in my own understanding.
Incomprehensibility, Perfection, Aseity, Simplicity, Immutability, Impassibility, Eternality, Omnipresence, Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnisapience, Righteousness, Goodness, Love, Jealousy, and Glory. I'll confess I had never heard of some of these terms, muchless having even a cursory understanding of their meaning and implications.
Yet even a brief survey of these attributes of God discussed in 'None Greater' proves to me that I still have a great deal more study, meditation, and clarification to pursue. And that is a happy thing. It not only humbles me; it also reminds me that an inseparable part of the answer Christ gives when asked what the Greatest Commandment is means loving the Lord my God with all my mind, no less or more than loving Him with all my heart, soul, and strength. And this is one of the ways I can love Him fully with my mind - to study Him diligently.
In closing, 10 freshly printed copies of 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: A Refutation of Liberalism' by Groen Van Prinsterer just arrived in the mail at my house yesterday.
