BIBLICAL BRIEFS 71
Let’s first explain the concept Theophany. It is a compilation of the Greek words ‘Theos’ (God) and ‘phainesthai’ (appearing), thus: God’s appearance. One of the ontological features of God is that He is invisible (1 Tim. 1:17; Heb. 11:27). [Ontology is a term used in the philosophy which indicates the being/essence and existence of something, which makes it recognizable and distinguishable.] In Col. 1:15-17 Paul uses this ontological feature of God to explain the complex relationship between God and Jesus, “the Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (NIV). God is invisible; Jesus was the visible manifestation of God. Jesus is thus the ultimate Theophany! But before Jesus was formed in the flesh and thus became visible, He nevertheless existed – He is the Firstborn of all things. From the beginning of time, the invisible God made Himself known by appearing, or manifesting in things. God e.g. manifested in thunder (John 12:28-29, Job 39:2-5), but not every thunder is, of course, God’s voice. God has previously spoken through the mouth of a donkey (Num. 11), but it does not, with all due respect, makes God to be a donkey, and every time you hear a donkey, it is not necessarily God speaking. If God can temporarily transmute, it means that He can manifest temporarily through anything, in other words, reveals aspects of His ontology, without losing His essence, and without the object losing its essential ontology (as fire or donkey). The emphasis is on the temporary manifestation, and when it happens, the object does not lose its ontological status of identity (e.g., donkey remains donkey and fire remain fire), but in the theophanic transmutation, they temporarily get properties exceeding their being. Transcendence refers to what goes beyond your sensory understanding, which exceeds the boundaries of your experience of reality. All fire brings forth consumption, but the fire of the thorn-bush did not consume the bush (Ex. 3: 2)! Moses’s understanding of fire makes him approach the fire and in verse 3 he convinces himself to truly see “the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed”!
Dr. Tom Gouws
