The Quality of Simplicity

The United States this week began the experience of a new president with a radically new philosophy of leadership. Some call it “common sense.” As I watch it unfold, I think of the word “simplicity” too. One example is what’s happening now in the state department and our relationship with the rest of the world. Marco Rubio, the first of Trump’s Cabinet nominees to win Senate confirmation and take office, said in a mission statement that all U.S. spending and efforts on foreign affairs “must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?” I call that approach a simple one.

Simplicity accords with the nature of God and the doctrine of simplicity, which states that God is a single, unified being without parts. Very often complication brings corruption. Not even a smidgin of corruption exists with God and this manifests in simplicity. God exists and His existence is identical to His nature. He is superior to every other entity, all of which He created. God does not change and is absolutely independent, never ever dependent on anything or anyone else. He is all-powerful and all-knowing.

No distinction exists between God's being (that He is) and the various attributes describing his essence (He is this and this and this). God is not made up of his attributes. He does not consist of goodness, mercy, justice, and power. He is these. This is why 1 John 4:8 says, “God is love,” 1 John 1:5, “God is light,” John 4:24, “God is spirit,” and Hebrews 12:29, “God is a consuming fire.” God is these attributes. He doesn’t have them.