Norman Geisler and the "Simplicity" of God

We need to be careful how we describe God.

Dr. Norman Geisler has co-authored scores of books on Christian philosophy and apologetics, but even though he has written a set of massive systematic theologies, he is not your most reliable of theological guides. Example: in his book Chosen But Free, Geisler wanted to prove that God is only love. He went about proving it in this way. See what you think....

1.  He said that God is "simple", which Dr. Geisler defined as God being essentially all one thing. Here is an example of my own making: a jug of pure apple juice, which was apple-juice through and through, you could call "simple" apple juice. Pure apple juice, in other words. But, if you chop up a couple of pears into tiny little bits and drop them into the jug to add some pear flavor, the apple juice would no longer be "simple." In a similar way, Geisler says that God is simple. He does not have parts.

2.  Then he said that God is love. Since God being "simple" means that God is all one thing through-and-through, Geisler takes this to mean that God is love through-and-love. Geisler coined the word "omni-benevolence", and said that God is "omni-benevolent." God is all love, and only love.

3.  Dr. Geisler then applied his definition of God to a controversial doctrine. He said that, since God is all love, and nothing but love, and love never forces anyone to love someone, unconditional election can't be true. 

What do you think of Dr. Geisler's approach to figuring God out?

Here are some questions I would ask a student who used Dr. Geisler's reasoning...

Does the simplicity of God mean that all of God's qualities and attributes are the same thing? For example are God's justice and God's love the same thing?  What about God's holiness and God's love? God's wrath and God's love?  God's wrath and His love are essentially the same thing?

If you made a list of all of God's qualities, are they all synonyms for "love"? They are not. Even though God isn't made up of separate pieces, I believe the Bible says He has many different, distinct attributes.  Love is not God's only quality. God is a multi-faceted Person. For example, I John 1:5 says that God is light, which is just as true as I John 4:8 saying God is love.

Does the Bible teach that God has a free will? God in Romans 9:15 (quoting from Exodus 33) seems to say that He does. God claims to have the freedom to show compassion to whomever He wills. God gave gifts to Isaac that He withheld from Ishmael; God gave gifts to Jacob He withheld from Esau; God gave gifts to Moses He withheld from Pharaoh, and so on. God being love doesn't mean that he has to give the same gifts to everyone equally.

What I'm going to say is that it's shaky to understand God from just one attribute.  If I wanted to, I could talk about how God is righteous, quote some verses about God hating sinners (like Psalm 5:4-6), claim that God is sending everyone to Hell, and I would be.... completely wrong!  Why?  Because I built a doctrine from just one attribute of God. I didn't look at the whole counsel of the Lord. 

We need to understand our God and Father from everything the Bible says about Him. We should be careful not to try and boil Him down to just one or two overly simplified qualities. This is why it's so important to get to know your entire Bible, and not just know a few verses here or there.