Tuesday, October 19, 2021

John of Damascus (675/76-749) on How We Can Make Affirmations of God in An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith

  

God then is infinite and incomprehensible, and all that is comprehensible about Him is His infinity and incomprehensibility. But all that we can affirm concerning God does not shew forth God’s nature, but only the qualities of His nature. For when you speak of Him as good and just and wise, and so forth, you do not tell God’s nature but only the qualities of His nature. Further there are some affirmations which we make concerning God which have the force of absolute negation: for example, when we use the term darkness, in reference to God, we do not mean darkness itself, but that He is not light but above light: and when we speak of Him as light, we mean that He is not darkness. (An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book I, Chapter IV [NPNF2 9:4])