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1. HIS ABSOLUTE PERFECTION.
This is the infinity of the Divine Being considered in itself. It
should not be understood in a quantitative, but in a qualitative sense; it qualifies all the
communicable attributes of God. Infinite power is not an absolute quantum, but an exhaustless
potency of power; and infinite holiness is not a boundless quantum of holiness, but a holiness
which is, qualitatively free from all limitation or defect. The same may be said of infinite
knowledge and wisdom, and of infinite love and righteousness. Says Dr. Orr: “Perhaps we can
say that infinity in God is ultimately: (a) internally and qualitatively, absence of all limitation and
defect; (b) boundless potentiality.”[Side-Lights on Christian Doctrine, p. 26.] In this sense of the
word the infinity of God is simply identical with the perfection of His Divine Being. Scripture
proof for it is found in Job 11:7-10; Ps. 145:3; Matt. 5:48.
2. HIS ETERNITY.
The infinity of God in relation to time is called His eternity. The form in which
the Bible represents God’s eternity is simply that of duration through endless ages, Ps. 90:2;
102:12; Eph. 3:21. We should remember, however, that in speaking as it does the Bible uses
popular language, and not the language of philosophy. We generally think of God’s eternity in
the same way, namely, as duration infinitely prolonged both backwards and forwards. But this
is only a popular and symbolical way of representing that which in reality transcends time and
differs from it essentially. Eternity in the strict sense of the word is abscribed to that which
transcends all temporal limitations. That it applies to God in that sense is at least intimated in II
Pet. 3:8. “Time,” says Dr. Orr, “strictly has relation to the world of objects existing in succession.
God fills time; is in every part of it; but His eternity still is not really this being in time. It is rather
that to which time forms a contrast.”[Ibid., p. 26.] Our existence is marked off by days and
weeks and months and years; not so the existence of God. Our life is divided into a past,
present and future, but there is no such division in the life of God. He is the eternal “I am.” His
eternity may be defined as that perfection of God whereby He is elevated above all temporal
limits and all succession of moments, and possesses the whole of His existence in one
indivisible present. The relation of eternity to time constitutes one of the most difficult
problems in philosophy and theology, perhaps incapable of solution in our present condition.
3. HIS IMMENSITY.
The infinity of God may also be viewed with reference to space, and is then
called His immensity. It may be defined as that perfection of the Divine Being by which He
transcends all spatial limitations, and yet is present in every point of space with His whole
Being. It has a negative and a positive side, denying all limitations of space to the Divine Being,
and asserting that God is above space and fills every part of it with His whole Being. The last
words are added, in order to ward off the idea that God is diffused through space, so that one
part of His Being is present in one place, and another part in some other place. We distinguish
three modes of presence in space. Bodies are in space circumscriptively, because they are
bounded by it; finite spirits are in space definitively, since they are not everywhere, but only in