Submitted by Dr. GP
Attached is a word study on The unsearchable riches of Christ.
- Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given , that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
- The word rendered “unsearchable,” anexichniaston, occurs only once elsewhere in the New Testament Romans 11:33, where it is rendered “past finding out;”
- O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
- What does Paul mean by the “unsearchable riches of Christ”? (v. 8)
- The heart of the apostle was so full of admiration of the riches, sufficiency and glory that was in the Saviour; that he choose this most emphatic expression in the New Testament, to express his thoughts and to remind us that our experiences of the riches of Christ have frequently been
- overwhelming,
- and virtually incomprehensible
- difficult to contemplate,
- literally stunning.
- Anexichniastos
- “Unsearchable” in these passages means unable to track or unable to map, as in the sense of mapping out a territory.
- The Greek word means literally “not traceable by footprints”. We cannot trace exactly why or how great God loves us WE CAN NOT MAP IT OUT
- It means that which cannot be “traced out,” or explored; which is inscrutable, or incomprehensible.
- The meaning here is, that there was a “sufficiency” in Christ which could not be traced out or explored. It was wholly incomprehensible.
- God is so infinite and the things that He does is so vast that we are unable to completely map out all that He has done and plans to accomplish.
- This term tells us that God is not completely “knowable” or that we are not able to fully figure God out.
- Because of Godʼs infinite nature He is by definition “unsearchable”.
- It is “unsearchable”just as a mine is inexhaustible, and whose treasures can never be fully explored
- The word “unsearchable is exceedingly well chosen here: it refers to the footsteps of God,
- the plans he had formed,
- the dispensations which he had published, and
- the innumerable providences which he had combined, to prepare, mature, and bring to full effect and view
- his gracious designs in the salvation of a ruined world, by the incarnation, passion, death, and resurrection of his Son.
- There were in these schemes and providences such riches –
- such an abundance,
- such a variety, as could not be comprehended even by the naturally vast, and, through the Divine inspiration, unparalleledly capacious mind of the apostle.
- Anexichniastos
- “Unsearchable” in these passages means unable to track or unable to map, as in the sense of mapping out a territory.
- The Greek word translated “unsearchable” here has also been translated
- boundless, unfathomable,
- fathomless, unsearchable,
- endless,
- unending,
- untraceable,
- unsurveyable,
- indetectable,
- untrackable,
- unexploreable, and
- inexhaustible.
- The Greek word means literally “not traceable by footprints”. We cannot trace exactly why or how great God loves us WE CAN NOT MAP IT OUT
- It means that which cannot be “traced out,” or explored; which is inscrutable, or incomprehensible.
- The meaning here is, that there was a “sufficiency” in Christ which could not be traced out or explored. It was wholly incomprehensible.
- God is so infinite and the things that He does is so vast that we are unable to completely map out all that He has done and plans to accomplish.
- This term tells us that God is not completely “knowable” or that we are not able to fully figure God out.
- Because of Godʼs infinite nature He is by definition “unsearchable”.
- It is “unsearchable”just as a mine is inexhaustible, and whose treasures can never be fully explored
- We can discuss just this one subject to the end of time and not cover all the possibilities or the reasons.
- We know what God has revealed to us and we see hints of vast things happening behind the scenes, but we aren’t able to map all of it out.
- Although we admire and praise the wonder that Jesus should come and save us, but still we realize that what he did for us is beyond human understanding.
- Certainly we can not fully and completely grasp the extent of God’s plans or all the things He did to accomplish his goals for us, or all the reasons why certain actions were done or even exactly how Jesus is able to save us by his death?
- We should not however allow this to discourage us, as if we can know nothing of God.
- Rather we should realize that God has revealed certain aspects of himself so that we can know God without fully knowing him.
- However, we will be able to know God forever in heaven and yet never be bored by him… there will always be something new to discover about Him.
- We understand this in human relationships which are finite – the best marriages are those in which two people spend a lifetime discovering each other.
- In like manner every bit we learn now, we receive as a blessing as we move closer to God, and his coming.
- these riches inconceivable:
- these riches, are communicable, as well as solid, satisfying, and lasting; and they are unsearchable to the natural man, and cannot be fully investigated by believers themselves; they will be telling over to all eternity: and they appear unsearchable, when it is considered what we have procured, and what blessings have been dispensed; what a large family Christ has maintained by them, and how richly and fully he has provided for us, and to what honour and grandeur he raises us all.
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