His Holiness Pope Shenouda III comments on one of God’s attributes: the unlimitedness of His knowledge, and explains the difference between human knowledge and divine knowledge.

Main idea
God knows everything about everything — His knowledge is total and comprehensive, not limited to general or specialized information. Human knowledge depends on steps, instruments, and experiments; God’s knowledge is direct and certain without preliminaries.

Spiritual and faith dimension
From the Coptic Orthodox faith perspective, this divine knowledge reveals God’s holiness, authority, and wisdom in creation and salvation. Since it includes reading hearts, intentions, and the inner life, it calls for humility and trust in the Lord’s providence, because what is hidden from us is revealed to God.

The future and prophecies
Because God sees past, present, and future in one page, prophecies are sometimes given in the past tense about future events. This explains the truth of prophecies about Christ and the appointment of persons according to His foreknowledge.

Comparison with the knowledge of the devil and man
A person and the devil may know rational inferences or probabilities based on experience or insight, but their knowledge is uncertain and limited. The devil may infer a person’s destiny but does not know the certain future as God knows it.

Practical and spiritual implications
God’s direct knowledge invites us to trust His providence and to live uprightly because nothing is hidden from the examiner of hearts. It also explains God’s choosing of people before their creation and the continuity of the divine plan despite changing human sciences and opinions.

Short conclusion
The attribute of absolute knowledge distinguishes God in perfection, presents the relationship between God’s knowledge and human freedom, and calls believers to humility and reliance on His wisdom and loving providence.

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