God, in His infinite love and wisdom, created a multitude of disciplines and paths people could follow in their lives. In each of these, God revealed Himself through general revelation, meaning the proof of His existence through the natural order of things. But in what way is God revealed through these different disciplines?
In mathematics, there is a concept known as infinity. God is characterized as being infinite, but do these two terms mean the same thing? As finite beings, infinity is a challenging concept for us to comprehend.
Stephen Wang, sophomore mechanical engineering major, explained his perspective on infinity.
“If you understand it as something you cannot understand, that actually happens to be, I think, the best understanding of infinity. Just something we cannot grasp,” Wang said.
In mathematics, infinity is characterized as being a summation of finite things forever, but it can also be described as being unbounded or unlimited.
In the first case, if you were to attempt to add every single number on the number line, it would take forever and would be infinite. In the second case, if you were to walk along a number line, you would never reach the end because it spans forever, making it impossible to reach infinity.
Dr. Robert Willett, associate professor of mathematics, explained how these mathematical understandings of infinity relate to the concept of the Lord.
“God is not subject to mathematics, as if mathematics is this other entity that God is now subject to,” Willett said. “This concept of infinity, in mathematics, gives light to or speaks to a deeper truth that is hidden and found in Christ himself.”
The idea of infinity’s existence is a way that God has revealed Himself to us. As stated by one of Willett’s students, Luke Keenan, junior mechanical engineering major, “We put it in a frame of numbers, but you can’t really change up the structure of math and those laws that write the universe,” Keenan said. “That definitely is one of my favorite parts of math, just being able to see how I can understand my creator better through his creation.”
In contrast to the idea of infinity, there is the mathematical concept of the infinitesimal, meaning to be infinitely close to something. This idea can also be attributed to God, as while He is infinite in His being, He is also infinitely close to us.
As Willett shared, “He exists through all, in all, for all. He holds all things together by the word of his power. So while he is unknowable, unsearchable, dwells in unapproachable light, he’s also near to each one of us,” Willett said. “So this is like the dichotomy you have of infinity and infinitesimal, right? It’s like, it is unsearchable, unknowable, it’s completely other and far away. You can’t ever get close to it. But at the same time, you’re never any farther away from it. It is also near at this infinitesimal level.”
This idea of being infinite and infinitesimal is seen in passages such as Isaiah 6:1, “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted; and the train of his robe filled the temple,” (ESV).
This depicts God as infinitely far away in heaven, yet infinitesimally close, as His robe fills the temple.
Similarly, it is stated in Jeremiah 23:23-24, “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord,” (ESV). This asserts that God is both infinitely distant in heaven and infinitely close on Earth.
Willett explained how God can reveal Himself through mathematics.
“Anything we have in mathematics, everything we know, is given to us by God,” Willett said.
Similarly, Wang stated, “Math is a way to describe things we see. It doesn’t create the things we see or define the things we see.” Keenan summarized, saying, “It goes to show how amazing and how extremely powerful and unquantifiable God is.”
Mathematics is one way to explain real-world phenomena, and in understanding it, we can recognize it as a gift from God, revealing His incalculable and unbounded goodness.
