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Divine Simplicity and the Blessed Life of God
Reader’s introduction: A study of divine simplicity and the unified perfection of God’s blessed life. For an introductory reading sequence, consult the Divine Blessedness library. There are doctrines that stand quietly in the background of Christian theology, doing immense conceptual labor while receiving little devotion in return. The doctrine of divine simplicity is one of…
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The Ever-Faithful God: Divine Blessedness as the Ground of Divine Faithfulness
Reader’s introduction: A study of divine blessedness as the ground of God’s covenant faithfulness. Begin with the Divine Blessedness reading pathway if you are new to this subject. This essay argues that the biblical doctrine of divine faithfulness is grounded in the positive and inexhaustible blessedness of God’s own life. Scripture does not present divine…
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Happiness or Blessedness???
The world is focused on happiness. It markets it, medicates it, optimizes it, curates it. Yet the more loudly we speak about happiness, the more fragile it appears. Anxiety climbs. Loneliness spreads. Pleasure exhausts itself quickly and demands more. Scripture already diagnosed this condition long ago. “All is vanity and a striving after wind” (Eccl…
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The Triune Life as the Epitome of Blessedness
Divine blessedness is not a solitary perfection. It is the eternal, relational joy of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and the fountain of every creaturely delight and the measure of all true happiness. Scripture locates God’s blessedness inside the triune relations. The Son is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint…
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Why I Believe God is Perfect Blessedness
Reader’s introduction: A personal and theological explanation of the significance of divine blessedness. Begin with the Divine Blessedness reading pathway if you are new to this subject. Jesus asked, “why do you call me good? There is only one who is good.” But if we press further, we must ask: What kind of good? A…
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“God is Infinitely Happy in the Enjoyment of Himself”: Jonathan Edwards on Divine Blessedness
While he may be best known for his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards focused on Heaven and God’s blessedness more than the horrors of Hell. Edwards grounds divine blessedness in the eternal life of the triune God and then explains creation, redemption, and the saints’ beatific joy as the…
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Divine Blessedness: The Plenitude and Perfections of God
The doctrine of divine blessedness stands at the center of Christian confession. When Paul proclaims that God is “blessed forever” (Rom 9:5; cf. 1 Tim 1:11), he doesn’t speak of passing joys but of the perfect and immutable fullness of life that belongs to God alone. This blessedness flows from two inseparable realities 1)God’s absolute…
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Divine Blessedness: Encountering God’s Perfect Joy Through His Names
What’s in a name? For most of us, names are simply labels implying a familial inheritance or a mark of personal identity. But in Scripture, God’s names function as windows into His very essence. They are not mere titles but invitations to know the Creator and partake in the perfection of His blessedness. From the…
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The Goodness of God: Divine Blessedness and Our Salvation
The doctrine of divine blessedness, or beatitudo Dei, affirms that God is perfect in himself, lacking nothing, and eternally fulfilled. This is grounded in scriptural exegesis of passages that describe God’s perfection and self-sufficiency. In Psalm 16:11, the psalmist declares, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness…
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Does God Know Everything All The Time?
Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. —Psalm 147:5. There is nothing which God does not know—he is omniscient or all-knowing. Psalm 139:4 helps to illustrate how God knows everything. There the Psalmist said, “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.” This knowledge…
