A few years ago I had a fellow minister round for morning coffee. I had not met him before. He had just moved into the area. I wanted to get to know him, especially as his predecessor was such an encouragement to me when I was starting out in Solihull.

Well, it turned out that the man was of a much more liberal persuasion theologically than me.

But I was curious. Out of a genuine desire to figure out how his theology worked, I started asking him some questions, first about Jesus, then about his death and it's meaning, then about the resurrection.

I can see now why that must have become strange for him. After all, it was a social call. For theological discussion it helps to be prepared. Eventually, he blurted out, "You're trying to put God in a box! You're trying to put me in a box!"

The latter comment was a reference to a theological box. Well, yes, I suppose so.

The former was more serious. God in a box? Can God be limited? Well, no. He is infinite, eternal and unchangable, as the shorter catechism says, in all his attributes of being, wisdom, power, holiness justice, goodness and truth. So how can someone like me who thinks this way be accused of "putting God in a box"?

Here's why: because I can say all that about God in one short, finite, limited, bounded sentence. The sentence is boxed in. But of course, the God it describes is not.

There is a quotation floating around that is attributed to Augustine (I have not managed to track it down), writing on the Trinity, I think, which goes something like this:

He was of course echoing the apostle Paul in Romans 11:33, Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

So, imagine Augustine, sitting in a boat bobbing on the surface of the deep sea. For light relief he puts his head under the water to try and see what is under the surface. He really wanted to see the bottom. But he can't. All he can see is blackness. He sees the depths but he cannot see he bottom.

Now, someone might say, Augustine was only thinking of one dimension - depth. One! Just one! And even if we add another two and can't see the extent of them either, someone might still say, what a limited view! Only three dimensions! You are putting the sea in a box!

That image is limited of course. We now know the sea is indeed limited, but Augustine didn't. For all he knew the sea might have been semi-infinite in one of the dimensions and infinite in the other two. But it still only had three. The sea in a kind of three-"box".

That is what the liberals say about us evangelical and reformed Christians. The analogy holds for their view of how we speak of God and his ways. Is God in a box because I can use a relatively small number of words to describe him? (Think of the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, Westminster Standards etc.)

Of course not. With each attribute, we can plunge in and shout, I see the depths, but I cannot see the bottom and be filled with wonder at our God.

God in a box? No way.