George H. Warnock — Doctrine of God
b6 — Who Are You?
Nature of God — Love, Light, and Truth
Passage 1 — God’s nature as the definitive positive source (ch. 7, section “The Mystery of the Cross”):
“God is LOVE and LIGHT and TRUTH. If men deny God a place in their lives, and so cut Him off… there is HATRED, and DARKNESS, and ERROR.”
Source: Warnock, Who Are You?, ch. 7 (who7.html), section “The Mystery of the Cross”.
Interpretation: Warnock defines evil as the absence of God, not as an independent power. God’s nature encompasses three properties that function as a unity: Love, Light, and Truth are not separate attributes for Warnock but the one nature of God manifesting in three dimensions.
Passage 2 — God is not the author of evil (ch. 5, opening paragraph):
“God is not the Author of evil, of confusion, of darkness.”
Source: Warnock, Who Are You?, ch. 5 (who5.html), opening paragraph.
Passage 3 — Origin of evil: the exclusion of God (ch. 7, section “The Mystery of the Cross”):
“It was THE EXCLUSION OF GOD that brought it about. If God is excluded, there it is.”
Source: Warnock, Who Are You?, ch. 7 (who7.html), section “The Mystery of the Cross”.
Interpretation: Warnock repeats in ch. 7 the same theory of evil as in ch. 5: evil is ontologically the absence of God, not an independent substance. This is consistent with his earlier works (cf. b4).
Passage 4 — No darkness or evil in God (ch. 2, section “The Day of the Lord, a Day of Darkness”):
“There is no darkness or evil in God. But when light is rejected, there is darkness. When love is rejected, there is hate. When peace is rejected (the Prince of Peace), there is war.”
Source: Warnock, Who Are You?, ch. 2 (who2.html), section “The Day of the Lord, a Day of Darkness”.
God Forming Light and Darkness — Isa. 45:7-8
Passage 5 — Isa. 45:7-8 as a programmatic text for the Day of the Lord (ch. 2, section “This is a Day of Mixture”):
“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. Drop down, yea heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together.” (Isa. 45:7-8)
Warnock frames this:
“This is what the Day of the LORD is all about! God hates a mixture, and He appeals to His people to make a difference between the clean and the unclean.”
Source: Warnock, Who Are You?, ch. 2 (who2.html), section “This is a Day of Mixture”.
Interpretation: Warnock uses Isa. 45:7-8 not as evidence of God’s causation of moral evil, but as confirmation of God’s sovereign lordship over the cosmic separation of light and darkness — an eschatological act of division that characterizes God as judge.
Holiness of God — Refining Fire
Passage 6 — God’s holiness as His sanctifying motive for His people (ch. 2, section “The Day of the LORD, a Day of Cleansing”):
“And the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple… But who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.” (Mal. 3:1-3)
Warnock connects this:
“God’s Holy Spirit has been given to us to make us HOLY; and His people are yet to become ‘holiness unto the LORD.‘”
Source: Warnock, Who Are You?, ch. 2 (who2.html), section “The Day of the LORD, a Day of Cleansing”.
Jealousy of God
Passage 7 — God’s jealousy regarding His glory (ch. 2, section “The Day Of the LORD, the Day of Vengeance”):
“He is a jealous God, and will not share His glory with another.”
Source: Warnock, Who Are You?, ch. 2 (who2.html), section “The Day Of the LORD, the Day of Vengeance”.
Interpretation: Warnock connects God’s jealousy to His glory and His desire for a pure people as His dwelling place — not as an emotional reaction, but as expression of God’s exclusive claim to worship and communion.
Passibility of God — God’s Suffering and Long-Suffering
Passage 8 — God suffers long with evil (ch. 7, section “The Travail of God”):
“We know about human suffering; but we fail to realize that God IS SUFFERING, AND THAT HE HAS SUFFERED LONG with the evil of men’s hearts. He has ENDURED patience and long-suffering beyond our ability to comprehend.”
Source: Warnock, Who Are You?, ch. 7 (who7.html), section “The Travail of God”.
Passage 9 — Rom. 9:22 as evidence of God’s long-suffering (ch. 7, section “The Travail of God”):
“What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, ENDURED WITH MUCH LONG-SUFFERING THE VESSELS OF WRATH FITTED TO DESTRUCTION: AND THAT HE MIGHT MAKE KNOWN THE RICHES OF HIS GLORY ON THE VESSELS OF MERCY.” (Rom. 9:22-23)
Warnock explains:
“That’s God’s answer, dear ones, when we question Him this way. He is preparing still other VESSELS OF MERCY! He will bear the pain a little longer.”
Source: Warnock, Who Are You?, ch. 7 (who7.html), section “The Travail of God”.
Interpretation: Warnock implicitly rejects the classical impassibility position (that God is unmoved by the suffering in the world). Instead he presents a God who actively and painfully suffers with the victims of evil, but who bears this suffering willingly from a redemptive plan. [TENSION with classical orthodoxy on impassibilitas Dei; compare b4 passages 6-7 on the Father co-suffering at the cross.]
God as Travailing Woman — Isa. 42:14
Passage 10 — God compares Himself to a woman in labor (ch. 7, section “The Travail of God”):
“I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry LIKE A TRAVAILING WOMAN; I will destroy and devour at once.” (Isa. 42:14)
Warnock connects this:
“There is something almost explosive in God’s heart. The prayers and the cryings and the travail of saints and martyrs have been stored up in the vials of Heaven, even in His own heart. He likens Himself to a travailing woman at the hour of her birth.”
Source: Warnock, Who Are You?, ch. 7 (who7.html), section “The Travail of God”.
Interpretation: This is one of the few places in Christian-theological literature where Isa. 42:14 is explicitly used as evidence for the passibility of God. Warnock uses this image to illustrate the intensity of God’s long-suppressed longing for redemption — God as travailing mother connects His passibility to His active redemptive will.
God’s Righteousness and Judgment through the Cross
Passage 11 — The Cross as God’s judgment of the world (ch. 7, section “God’s Judgment of the World”):
“The Cross is God’s JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD! And in that great and terrible Day of the LORD, God is going to execute the sentence of judgment that He decreed at Golgotha.”
Source: Warnock, Who Are You?, ch. 7 (who7.html), section “God’s Judgment of the World”.
Passage 12 — God’s justice toward individual power structures (ch. 7, section “God’s Judgment of the World”):
“The proud and the haughty said, We have Him in our grasp! But God said, when you nailed My Son to the Cross, it was there and then that I stained the pride of all your glory!” “The political rulers said, We have eliminated the trouble. But God said, It was there at the Cross that I brought down the whole political systems of Rome, and of the world, to the dust.” “Religion said, We have put an end to your heresy. But God said, When you crucified My Son, I put an end to all the religions of men that refuse to bow at the foot of the Cross.”
Source: Warnock, Who Are You?, ch. 7 (who7.html), section “God’s Judgment of the World”.
Interpretation: Warnock presents God’s righteousness not as a future eschatological act but as already accomplished in the Cross — the Cross is the definitive turning point at which God demonstrates His justice toward all human power structures.