“Our Loss of the Concept of Majesty” – A.W. Tozer

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Why is it important to study the Doctrine of God? A.W. Tozer gives a good explanation for this in the preface to his book, The Knowledge of the Holy:

“It is called for by a condition which has existed in the Church for some years and is steadily growing worse. I refer to the loss of the concept of majesty from the popular religious mind. The Church has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshiping men. This she has not done deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.

The low view of God entertained almost universally among Christians is the cause of a hundred lesser evils everywhere among us. A whole new philosophy of Christian life has resulted from this one basic error in our religious thinking.

With our loss of the sense of majesty has come the further loss of religious awe and consciousness of the divine Presence. We have lost our spirit of worship and our ability to withdraw inwardly to meet God in adoring silence. Modern Christianity is simply not producing the kind of Christian who can appreciate or experience the life in the Spirit. The words, “Be still and know that I am God,” mean next to nothing to the self-confident, bustling worshiper in this middle period of the twentieth century.

This loss of the concept of majesty has come just when the forces of religion are making dramatic gains and the churches are more prosperous than at any time within the past several hundred years. But the alarming thing is that our gains are mostly external and our losses wholly internal; and since it is the quality of our religion that is affected by internal conditions, it may be that our supposed gains are but losses spread over a wider field.”[1]

Unfortunately Tozer’s words are still applicable (if not more so) in our generation. Let us heed this warning and seek our God that we might know Him better. The Doctrine of God is the root of all theology – If our view of God is skewed then our life and doctrine will be also. As Tozer went on to say, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”[2]

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[1] A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: HarperCollins, 1961), p. vii.

[2] A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: HarperCollins, 1961), p. 1.