God knows everything there is to know.
His understanding is infinite:
Psalm 147:5 KJV
[5] Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite.
You cannot be almighty if you don't know all things:
Notice the reading into the text: First the pump is primed with, "God knows everything there is to know." and then the verse is quoted and followed up with "You cannot be almighty if you don't know all things:"
This is how proof-texting works. By this method, all doctrines are created and sustained, no matter what they are. By this method, David Koresh proved himself to be a "sinning Messiah". And no, that is not me be hyperbolic or sarcastic. This is precisely the method he used to convince parents that it was okay to send their daughters into his bedroom.
I just look up everything that follows. I'm not a linguist of any sort. It took maybe three minutes for me to learn the following...
This verse DOES NOT teach that God knows everything! If flat out does not teach that.
The Hebrew word translated "understanding" is תְּבוּנָה (tevunah). This word comes from the root
בּין (bin), which generally means to discern, to understand, or to perceive. The form tevunah specifically refers to insight, discernment, or intelligent reasoning.
Root and Meaning:
- Root: בּין (bin)
- Noun Form: תְּבוּנָה (tevunah)
- Basic Meaning: Discernment, insight, the ability to understand or distinguish between things
- Usage: Often used to describe the quality of reasoning, especially in a wise or perceptive person
From Strong's Concordance....
The KJV translates Strong's H8394 in the following manner: understanding (38x),
discretion (1x),
reasons (1x),
miscellaneous (3x).
Outline of Biblical Usage [?]
- understanding, intelligence
- the act of understanding
- skill
- the faculty of understanding
- intelligence, understanding, insight
- the object of knowledge
- teacher (personification)
So the verse teaches that God is infinitely wise, not that He's a know-it-all. This verse is not a statement about God's awareness of every discrete fact. The emphasis is on the boundlessness or immeasurability of His capacity for understanding, not the content of what He is choosing to pay attention to at any given moment.
Let's continue....
The Hebrew word translated "infinite" isn't actually just one word, it's a phrase. It's אֵין מִסְפָּר ('ein mispar).
- אֵין ('ein) – A negation meaning “there is not” or “no”
- מִסְפָּר (mispar) – From the root סָפַר (safar) meaning “to count” or “to number”.
The noun mispar means “number,” “count,” or “total.”
Thus literally, "without number". The KJV and NKJV both render it as "infinite", which is understandable and fine but "without number" is more accurate. Regardless, the idiomatic phrase here is used to express the inability to quantify the depth or scope of something and it is modifying תְּבוּנָה (tevunah) (understanding), not "דַּעַת (da‘at)" (pronounced 'yada') (knowledge). It is God's wisdom that is without measure, not His knowledge.
The next phrase here would be to prove biblically that there are things that God does not know but that has already been done multiple times and you don't seem to care about that so we'll stick with the extra-biblical proofs.
Revelation 1:8 KJV
[8] I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Isaiah 26:4 KJV
[4] Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
John 2:20 KJV
[20] But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
John 1:3 KJV
[3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Job 11:7 KJV
[7] Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
You cannot create all things amd not know all things. You cannot hold all things together amd not know all things:
Colossians 1:17 KJV
[17] and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
More proof-texting which follows the same pattern as above. Simply reading one's doctrine into these texts. Front loading the interpretation by stating the doctrine right before quoting the verses and tossing in more doctrine in the middle of a long list of quoted passages. If this is how you build your doctrine, you can believe anything you desire to believe.
Specifically in response to the above passages...
As has been proven -
PROVEN - multiple times now, without substantive rebuttal (because there be no such rebuttal) that the word "all", even in other languages than English, usually does not mean "every single one". In fact, in both everyday language and biblical usage, the word “all” is so commonly used non-literally that when someone does mean “every single one without exception,” they almost always include some kind of qualifier or emphatic clarification to make that precision unmistakable. Because “all” is so often used idiomatically (“all the rage”), hyperbolically (“all the kids do it”) or representatively (“all Judea came out to John”), the burden falls on the speaker to clarify when they mean it literally.
