John notes that the cosmos is created by and through the Logos, which gives this Box in which we live its very shape. The Logos describes God as Speaker, Fashioner, Reason, Order, Structure, and the like. For this aspect of Christ is uniquely related to the Box. He could have used any number of other titles for the Second Person of the Trinity, but he chose to speak of Him as the Word, the Logos of the Father.
John chose the title, “Logos” (Word), when speaking of Christ in the prologue of his gospel. When the Gospel of John says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” he could just as easily have said, “God came into the Box.” God not only entered the Box, but did so in a way that can be known and spoken of. The only God who can be spoken of is the God who enters the Box. We are limited, circumscribed, utterly bounded by our own ignorance. We are not infinite creatures who live in an infinite universe. I cannot therefore insist that, based on His undeniable justice, God “must” do one thing or another.īut there is a much larger problem concerning God and the Box. For the mystery of God’s justice lies indeed “outside of the box.” If it is true that His justice cannot be denied, His justice remains incomprehensible to us.
Even if the statement is granted, the rest of the corollary does not necessarily follow. Sinners “must” be punished – God’s justice requires it and His justice cannot be denied. For example, “God cannot deny His justice.” This is often affirmed by those who assert that God “must” condemn some to hell. I am deeply averse to statements that begin: “God cannot.” They are often little more than bad theological reasoning.
But, let’s think a little more about the box. It is also a common rhetorical ploy to shut down a theological discussion. It is a commonplace that you “cannot put God in a box.” It is an affirmation of the transcendence of God and of the limits of human understanding.
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