Theodicy Soteriology, Hermeneutics

SOTERIOLOGY : M. M. NINAN
foolish to assume to understand the transcendent God. Just as a two dimensional object can
be traced into one dimension by projection, we can indeed perceive God's projection into our
existence. This I believe was indeed what God told Moses, when he asked God "What is your
name?"
"I am that I am". The Hebrew understanding of that was simply, "You will know me through
my actions in history." That is all what we can understand of God. It is through the revelation
of God in history and in the ultimate revelation through Jesus that we understand God. Not by
meditation or logic as the Hindu Sages did. By this logic we simply arrive at the indefinable
nature of God and the need of revelation. The ultimate revelation of Jesus in history left the
disciples confused.
John 16: 12 "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
To Nicodemus Jesus said:
John 3: 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you
believe if I speak of heavenly things?
Job 42:1 Then Job replied to the LORD:
2 "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of
things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
This verse if quoted partially by many Calvinists to show Omnipotence of God. But in its
context it is an admission of ignorance of God's power and attributes.
The Omni definition tries to define a monistic Sovereign God – a concept that Christians do
not accept as ipso facto. For any real living reality a multiple person in Godhead is a
necessity. Even the Hindu Sages realized that and evolved a Saguna Brahman with a trinity -
one in essence with each other. It is the interplay of these sovereign persons that allow for
the dualities and changes. The indeterminacy of the universe lies in the sovereign nature of
not one person but of the Trinity as a whole. In creating creatures in God's own image, God
did empty his sovereignty and delegated it to his children at least in some areas. But this
freedom that God gave to his creation is the affirmation of the sovereignty of God and not its
denial.
A good example would be to consider a monarch who is sovereign in his state. If this
monarch has a son – a royal prince, by virtue of his person, a certain amount of uncertainty is
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