When we begin with the first impressions that God himself gives to us the doctrine of divine simplicity can be a comfort. First impressions are important. The business world can teach us a lot about that. Present yourself positively and you will make a good impression. Your good impression sets the agenda for your relationships in the workplace. If you give a bad impression, you will need to unlearn that first impression, if you want those same relationships.
God gives us first impressions in the Bible through his first words in scripture. He chooses the way in which we are to think of him; the way in which we are to receive him. We don’t begin with the philosophical god. We don’t begin with a simple and impassable being, but a creator, a speaker, and giver. God is impassible and God is simple. The Christian doctrines of simplicity and impassibility are the result of our reflections on God. We understand the simplicity of God after we have understood how he is our creator. These doctrines are a response to his self-revelation.
(n.b. The doctrine of simplicity is the teaching that God cannot be divided. He is not partly just and partly merciful. He is wholly invested in everything that He does. The doctrine of impassibility is the teaching that God cannot be acted upon. If God could be acted upon, he would have to change his way in order to respond. This would deny his immutability. It would also suggest that God is responding to something unexpected and this would deny the fact that he is all-knowing and almighty.)
The Creator
How does God begin to reveal himself? The very first words of Genesis give that answer. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God is a creator and an inventor. We learn in verse two that “His Spirit hovered over the waters.” God cares for the things that he has made. he wants to sustain these things. From beyond eternity he planned to make the heavens and the earth.
The Word
A few sentences over we discover another truth about God. He speaks. We see this again and again through Genesis 1. Every day begins with God speaking. God is a communicative God. When we know this we begin to understand why God created a creature like man. He wanted to communicate with his creation.
The Giver
We already sense the generosity of God in the self-revelation he has given in the first verses of Genesis. The God who creates and loves what he creates; the God who wants to commune with his creation; will also be a generous God. We see this more fully in the creation of man. When God creates man, God gives man and woman his image. He also gives them life and breath. More than that he gives them all the plants to eat and gives them the challenge of having dominion over fish, birds, and animals. Creation is a generous gift.
When we begin to understand God with the first impressions He gives us, we have a much more attractive picture of God, than the God of the philosophers. The God of the philosophers is, most importantly, simple. He is impassable. The God of the Bible takes joy in his creation. He speaks his creation into being and communes with the creation he has made. He is overwhelmingly generous.
Then we add the doctrine of divine simplicity. Now every truth we read of, in Genesis, is invested with the entire being of God. As we grow in our understanding of God, we understand that he does this as a God who is almighty, fully present and whose full being is involved in everything that he does. In this way, divine simplicity is a doctrine of comfort.