Ouweneel’s “most difficult problems” (I)

Originally posted on June 01, 2007 – by Andre Piet

In the Netherlands’ oldest periodical, De Bode, Prof. Dr. Willem Ouweneel wrote an article about what he considers to be the three most difficult problems in the Bible. He lists:

1. the Trinity of God (one essence, three persons),
2. the nature of Christ (two natures, one person),
3. free will (Divine counsel, human responsibility).

Ouweneel writes that these are not only the most difficult problems in the Bible, but also the most important ones. He argues that these problems are by definition unsolvable, and that any solution always turns out to be a pseudo-solution. Every consistent contemplation of the aforementioned doctrines ends in hopeless deadlock.

“In all three cases we seem to be dealing with insoluble contradictions (…) There is nothing to comprehend here; we simply bow before these divine mysteries, which surpass all our logical analysis.”

That the aforementioned doctrines present us with “insoluble contradictions,” I do not dispute for a moment. But what Ouweneel apparently overlooks is that he projects his problems into the Bible. He speaks of the most difficult problems in the Bible, but what he actually means is that these are the most difficult problems in theology. Just take note of the key terms he uses in the three paragraphs.

Where does the Bible speak of the Trinity of God? Where does it mention one essence and three persons? Where does the Bible speak of the two natures of Christ? Where do I read terms like free will or responsibility? Each and every one of them is a theological term (read: “words of human wisdom”).

Whoever confines themselves solely to “sound words” (the words of Scripture itself) has no problem, for example, with the Trinity—he doesn’t even know the concept! And where no problem exists, there is nothing that needs to be solved either…

In a next weblog I hope to clarify this using the dogmas of the Trinity and the two natures of Christ.

To be continued…

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