~ Adapted from email correspondence ~

Let me give you a passage from Lloyd-Jones that is perhaps an even better example of how the tradition of affirming paradox has poisoned our theology, making us look like fools before the world and believers who have not yet been programmed. This is so ridiculous that I must make a point of saying that these are two consecutive paragraphs, with no interruption in between. Also, although this was an oral lecture at first, it was transcribed and revised for print, but no one seems to have noticed or cared about it.

Above all, we shall have to realise that there are certain things which we, with our finite minds, will not be able to reconcile with one another. Now I am trying to avoid the use of technical terms as far as I can, but here I must introduce the word antinomy — not antimony. What is an antinomy? It is a position in which you are given two truths which you yourself cannot reconcile. There are certain final antinomies in the Bible, and as people of faith we must be ready to accept that. When somebody says, “Oh, but you cannot reconcile those two,” you must be ready to say, “I cannot. I do not pretend to be able to. I do not know. I believe what I am told in the Scripture.”

So, then, we approach this great doctrine like this: in the light of the things we have already considered about the being, the nature, and the character of God, this doctrine of the eternal decrees must follow as an utter, absolute necessity. Because God is who and what He is, He must work in the way in which He does work. As we have seen, all the doctrines in the Bible are consistent with one another, and when we are considering any particular doctrine we must remember that it must always be consistent with everything else. So as we come to study what the Bible tells us about the way in which God works, we must be very careful not to say anything that contradicts what we have already said about His omniscience, His omnipotence, and all the other things that we have agreed together are to be found in the Scriptures.

(Great Doctrines of the Bible, Vol. 1; Crossway, p. 95-96)

“There are certain things which we, with our finite minds, will not be able to reconcile with one another.”

But as I often say, it appears that some minds are vastly more finite than others.