Bible Encyclopedia: Infinite

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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

INFINITE; INFINITUDE

in'-fin-it, in-fin'-i-tud:

1. Scripture Use:

The word "infinite" occurs 3 times only in the text of the King James Version (Job 22:5 Psalm 147:5 Nahum 3:9) and once in margin (Nahum 2:9). In Psalm 147:5, "His understanding is infinite" it represents the Hebrew 'en micpar, "no number"; in the other passages the Hebrew 'en qets (Job 22:5, of iniquities) and 'en qetseh (Nahum 3:9, of strength of Ethiopia and Egypt; the King James Version margin 2:9, of "spoil"), meaning "no end." the Revised Version (British and American), therefore, renders in Job 22:5, "Neither is there any end to thine iniquities," and drops the marginal reference in Nahum 2:9.

2. Application to God:

Psalm 147:5 is thus the only passage in which the term is directly applied to God. It there correctly conveys the idea of absence of all limitation. There is nothing beyond the compass of God's understanding; or, positively, His understanding embraces everything there is to know. Past, present and future; all things possible and actual; the inmost thoughts and purposes of man, as well as his outward actions, lie bare to God's knowledge (Hebrews 4:13; see OMNISCIENCE).

3. Infinity Universally Implied:

While, however, the term is not found, the truth that God is infinite, not only in His understanding, but in His being and all His perfections, natural and moral, is one that pervades all Scripture. It could not be otherwise, if God was unoriginated, exalted above all limits of time, space and creaturehood, and dependent only on Himself. The Biblical writers, certainly, are far from thinking in metaphysical categories, or using such terms as "self-existence," "absoluteness," "unconditioned" yet the ideas for which these terms stand were all of them attributed in their conceptions to God. They did not, e.g. conceive of God as having been born, or as having a beginning, as the Babylonian and Greek gods had, but thought of Him as the ever-existing One (Psalm 90:1, 2), and free Creator and Disposer of all that exists. This means that God has self-existence, and for the same reason that He is not bound by His own creation. He must be thought of as raised above all creaturely limits, that is, as infinite.

4. Anthropomorphisms:

The anthropomorphisms of the Bible, indeed, are often exceedingly naive, as when Yahweh is said to "go down" to see what is being done (Genesis 11:5, 7; Genesis 18:21), or to "repent" of His actions (Genesis 6:6); but these representations stand in contexts which show that the authors knew God to be unlimited in time, space, knowledge and power (compare Genesis 6:7, God, Creator of all; 11:8, 9, universal Ruler; 18:25, universal Judge; Numbers 23:19, incapable of repentance, etc.). Like anthropomorphisms are found in Deuteronomy and the Prophets, where it is not doubted that the higher conceptions existed. In this infinity of God is implied His unsearchableness (Job 11:7 Psalm 145:3 Romans 11:33); conversely, the latter attribute implies His infinity.

5. Infinity a Perfection Not a Quantity:

This infinitude of God is displayed in all His attributes-in His eternity, omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, etc.-on which see the separate articles. As regards the proper conception of infinity, one has chiefly to guard against figuring it under too quantitative an aspect. Quantitative boundlessness is the natural symbol we employ to represent infinity, yet reflection will convince us that it is inadequate as applied to a spiritual magnitude. Infinitude in power, e.g. is not an infinite quantity of power, but the potentiality in God of accomplishing without limit everything that is possible to power. It is a perfection, not a quantity. Still more is this apparent in moral attributes like love, righteousness, truth, holiness. These attributes are not quantities (a quantity can never be truly infinite), but perfections; the infinity is qualitative, consisting in the absence of all defect or limitation in degree, not in amount.

6. Errors Based on Quantitative Conceptions:

The recollection of the fact now stated will free the mind from most of the perplexities that have been raised by metaphysical writers as to the abstract possibility of the co-existence of infinite attributes in God (thus e.g. Mansel); the reconcilability of God's infinity with His Personality, or with the existence of a finite world; the power of the human mind to conceive infinity, etc. How, it is asked, can the idea of infinity get into our finite minds? It might as well be asked how the mind can take in the idea of the sun's distance of some 90 million miles from the earth, when the skull that holds the brain is only a few cubic inches in capacity. The idea of a mile is not a mile big, nor is the idea of infinity too large to be thought of by the mind of man. The essence of the power of thought is its capacity for the universal, and it cannot rest till it has apprehended the most universal idea of all the infinite.

James Orr

Strong's Hebrew

4557. mispar -- number, tally
... Definition number, tally NASB Word Usage account (1), count (1), count* (1), counted
(1), countless* (1), enumeration (1), few (7), infinite* (1), innumerable ...
/hebrew/4557.htm - 6k

7093. qets -- end
... interval* (1), later (1), limit (2). after, utmost border, end, infinite,
process. Contracted from qatsats; an extremity; adverbially ...
/hebrew/7093.htm - 6k

7097. qatseh -- end, extremity
... end, extremity. Transliteration: qatseh Phonetic Spelling: (kaw-tseh') Short Definition:
after. after, border, brim, brink, edge, end, infinite, frontier, ...
/hebrew/7097.htm - 5k

369. ayin -- nothing, nought
... 5), have i no (1), have no (24), have none (2), have nothing (2), having a nor
(1), having no (2), helpless* (1), incurable* (1), infinite* (1), infrequent* (1 ...
/hebrew/369.htm - 7k

Library

Whether Concupiscence is Infinite?
... OF CONCUPISCENCE (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether concupiscence is infinite? Objection
1: It would seem that concupiscence is not infinite. ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether concupiscence is infinite.htm

Whether God is Infinite?
... THE INFINITY OF GOD (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether God is infinite? Objection 1:
It seems that God is not infinite. For everything infinite ...
//christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether god is infinite.htm

Infinite God
... Hymns of the Apostolic Church INFINITE GOD. tr., John Brownlie 8.8.8.8 Kurie
ho Theos hemon, hou to kratos aneikaston,. kai he doxa ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/brownlie/hymns of the apostolic church/infinite god.htm

Whether the Power of God is Infinite?
... THE POWER OF GOD (SIX ARTICLES) Whether the power of God is infinite? Objection
1: It seems that the power of God is not infinite. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether the power of god.htm

Whether the Grace of Christ is Infinite?
... OF THE GRACE OF CHRIST AS AN INDIVIDUAL MAN (THIRTEEN ARTICLES) Whether the grace
of Christ is infinite? ... For everything immeasurable is infinite. ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether the grace of christ.htm

Whether an Infinite Multitude Can Exist?
... THE INFINITY OF GOD (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether an infinite multitude can exist? Objection
1: It seems that an actually infinite multitude is possible. ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether an infinite multitude can.htm

Whether God Can Know Infinite Things?
... OF GOD'S KNOWLEDGE (SIXTEEN ARTICLES) Whether God can know infinite things?
Objection 1: It seems that God cannot know infinite things. ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether god can know infinite.htm

Whether Our Intellect Can Know the Infinite?
... WHAT OUR INTELLECT KNOWS IN MATERIAL THINGS (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether our intellect
can know the infinite? ... For God excels all infinite things. ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether our intellect can know.htm

Whether an Actually Infinite Magnitude Can Exist?
... THE INFINITY OF GOD (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether an actually infinite magnitude
can exist? Objection 1: It seems that there can be something ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether an actually infinite magnitude.htm

This Death is of Such Infinite Value and Dignity Because the ...
... Second Head of Doctrine Article 4 This death is of such infinite value and
dignity because the person who submitted to� This death ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/various/the canons of dordt/article 4 this death is.htm

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (a.) Unlimited or boundless, in time or space; as, infinite duration or distance.

2. (a.) Without limit in power, capacity, knowledge, or excellence; boundless; immeasurably or inconceivably great; perfect; as, the infinite wisdom and goodness of God; -- opposed to finite.

3. (a.) Indefinitely large or extensive; great; vast; immense; gigantic; prodigious.

4. (a.) Greater than any assignable quantity of the same kind; -- said of certain quantities.

5. (a.) Capable of endless repetition; -- said of certain forms of the canon, called also perpetual fugues, so constructed that their ends lead to their beginnings, and the performance may be incessantly repeated.

6. (n.) That which is infinite; boundless space or duration; infinity; boundlessness.

7. (n.) An infinite quantity or magnitude.

8. (n.) An infinity; an incalculable or very great number.

9. (n.) The Infinite Being; God; the Almighty.

Thesaurus

Infinite (8 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (a.) Unlimited or boundless, in time or space; as,
infinite duration or distance. ... 7. (n.) An infinite quantity or magnitude. ...
/i/infinite.htm - 15k

Infinitude
... 1. (n.) The quality or state of being infinite, or without limits; infiniteness.
2. (n.) Infinite extent; unlimited space; immensity; infinity. ...
/i/infinitude.htm - 12k

Unchangeableness (1 Occurrence)
... the truth that in His nature and perfections, in His knowledge, will and purpose,
He always remains the same in the fullness of His infinite and perfect Being ...
/u/unchangeableness.htm - 27k

Unchangeable (4 Occurrences)
... the truth that in His nature and perfections, in His knowledge, will and purpose,
He always remains the same in the fullness of His infinite and perfect Being ...
/u/unchangeable.htm - 28k

Beauty (98 Occurrences)
... Any element incandescent has a spectrum partially coincident with that of water
and ranging above and below it in the infinite capacity it has to start ether ...
/b/beauty.htm - 45k

Eternity (23 Occurrences)
... 1. (n.) Infinite duration, without beginning in the past or end in the future;
also, duration without end in the future; endless time. ...
/e/eternity.htm - 24k

Anthropomorphism
... from which all things proceed, in terms of force, then, as Flake said, "there is
scarcely less anthropomorphism lurking in the phrase `Infinite Power,' than in ...
/a/anthropomorphism.htm - 20k

Mediator (7 Occurrences)
... Such a mediator must be at once divine and human, divine, that his obedience and
his sufferings might possess infinite worth, and that he might possess ...
/m/mediator.htm - 42k

Redeemed (78 Occurrences)
... (KJV WBS). 1 Corinthians 6:20 And you are not your own, for you have been redeemed
at infinite cost. Therefore glorify God in your bodies. (WEY). ...
/r/redeemed.htm - 31k

Decrees (131 Occurrences)
... conceived of by us in partial aspects, and in logical relations, and are therefore
styled Decrees." The decree being the act of an infinite, absolute, eternal ...
/d/decrees.htm - 36k

Bible Concordance

Infinite (8 Occurrences)

Romans 2:4 Or is it that you think slightingly of His infinite goodness, forbearance and patience, unaware that the goodness of God is gently drawing you to repentance?
(WEY)

Romans 9:23 in order to make known His infinite goodness towards the subjects of His mercy whom He has prepared beforehand for glory,
(WEY)

1 Corinthians 6:20 And you are not your own, for you have been redeemed at infinite cost. Therefore glorify God in your bodies.
(WEY)

1 Corinthians 7:23 You have all been redeemed at infinite cost: do not become slaves to men.
(WEY)

Ephesians 1:19 and what the transcendent greatness of His power in us believers as seen in the working of His infinite might
(WEY)

Job 22:5 Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?
(KJV WBS)

Psalms 147:5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS NAS)

Nahum 3:9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
(KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS)

Subtopics

Infinite

Related Terms

Infinitude

Unchangeableness (1 Occurrence)