Attributes of God - Introduction

Some of the most important questions asked are “What is the purpose of life?”, “Is there life after death?”, and “Does God exist?” The answer to the question “Does God exist” are typically straightforward and three-fold: “Yes” (theist), “I do not know” (agnostic), and “no” (atheist). However, if we follow-up with these three answers with the question “What do you believe about God?”, the answers become lengthy and complex, even for Christians.[1]

One of the purposes of our series on the attributes of God is help you think through and provide a biblical answer to the question “What do you believe about God?” Put another way, our desires is for you to know God. The pursuit of knowing God is one of the great tasks of the Christian faith, life, and practice.

Q. Why is it important to know God?

First, God’s people are commanded to know God. In the book of Hosea 4:6, God says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” It is for Israel’s lack of knowledge he exhorts God’s people, “Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD” (Hosea 6:3).

Second, God’s people need to know God for godliness. We are what we worship. Therefore, the more we pursue to know God, the more we will conform to His image. It is growing in Christian maturity and demonstrating a life that reflects the character of God: godliness. The knowledge of God should “mature us to manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:10)

Third, God’s people need to know God for comfort in the world. God’s people are promised to face difficult and challenging times in life. Knowing God will prepare you for the hardest seasons of life. It will assure you of his goodness and your salvation. Psalm 1 says that the man who pursues to know God is “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither” (Ps. 1:3).

Q. What are the attributes of God?

Answer: Characteristics or qualities of God that constitute God’s very being. [2]

In theology, the attributes are divided into two categories: the incommunicable and communicable attributes of God.

The term “incommunicable” means “unable to be shared.”[3]Therefore, God’s incommunicable attributes are those divine characteristics or qualities that His creation does not share with Him:[4]eternality, aseity, infinity, simplicity, and immutability.

The communicable attributes of God are those characteristics and qualities that God shares with His creation, especially human beings, which are created in His image. These attributes are power, wisdom, goodness, justice, etc. While God is the perfection of these, man can express these characteristics to a lesser degree. Humans possess these attributes imperfectly and within a human scale.[5]

The Source: Revelation

The study of God is not a scientific inquiry. In other words, we cannot measure the height and weight of God. We cannot place God in a test tube to examine Him. The reason is because God is transcendent and Spirit. By transcendent, I mean that God is far beyond the space, time, and matter. By Spirit, I mean that he is immaterial. However, that does not mean that we cannot know Him.

Q. How does man come to know God?

A: General Revelation and Special Revelation

General Revelation: God’s self-disclosed and self-communication in the universe and created world.[6]

Psalm 19:1-2:“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night reveals knowledge.

Romans 1:19-20:For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So, they are without excuse.

Q. What attributes of God can we come to know through general revelation?

“the way of causation” – We can learn about God through what he caused to be.

Example: We can see beauty and order in the world. Therefore, we can deduce that God is beautiful and orderly.

“the way of negation” – We can infer truth about God by contrasting him with the imperfections and limitations of creation.

Example: Since creation is limited by time, God is eternal. Creation is limited by space, God is infinite.

“the way of eminence” = We can infer truths about God by noting that God is created that the good he created.

Example: the power of nature leads us to conclude that God is more powerful than creation. People can be incredibly smart; however, God is far more superior in knowledge and wisdom.

Q. Is general revelation sufficient for us to know God? Why?

A1: Since man is sinful and corrupted in their mind, we cannot trust ourselves to learn about God from our experience and creation.

Example: Since God does not act in the world today, we can conclude that He is not involved in the affairs of the world, which is deism.

Special Revelation

Special Revelation: God’s self-disclosure through super-natural means.

Example: (1) God, through the Holy Spirit, has given dreams, visions, auditions, and acts of salvation and judgement. (2) God has also revealed Himself through the Holy Spirit through representatives in the prophets and Apostles (3) Scripture (4) God has revealed Himself supremely through His son, Jesus Christ

Ligon J. Duncan: God has made Himself known generally in creation, specificallyin His Word, and supremely in His son.

The Son of God: Jesus Christ

Mark 4:4: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Mark 7:8: You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.

Matthew 5:17: Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets (Scriptures). I have not come to abolish but to fulfill.

Luke 24:43: These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Paul the Apostle

2 Peter 19-21: And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Q. Why is special revelation important to know God? In what ways is it better than general revelation?

In the Bible, the authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit communicate who God is in human terms.

Richard Pratt:God has disclosed himself in human form, or in ways that human beings can understand.[7]

Human Characteristics

The Bible will use language and describe God in human terms. For example, there are many passages that will describe God as having eyes, ears, arms, hands, legs, and feet. Some passages describe God as having senses, such as touch, smell, and taste. However, the Bible is notsaying that God has arms or legs but rather is using anthropomorphic language, which is language that attributes qualities to God human terms to communicate a truth about God.

Ps. 18:15: Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

Social Structures

The Bible uses language of human social systems and structures to describe God. For example, God is described as a King that sits upon His throne. He is also described as hearing reports, holds counsels, sends messengers, and receives worship, very similar to kings and emperors in the ancient near East.

Visible Appearances

The Bible also uses language to describe historical accounts of God’s visible appearances. These appearances are called “theophonies.” In Genesis 15, God appears to Abram and makes a covenant with Him. He then puts Abram to sleep and walks through the dead animals in a blood covenant. God is described as physical smoke and fire walking.

Abstract Qualities

The Bible will uses language to describe who God is, such as “holy,” “powerful,” “mighty,” etc. Therefore, in a certain way, the entire is anthropomorphic in its revelation to us. Therefore, the way the Bible reveals God to us is with our language. It is not exuastive because God is infinite; however, it is sufficient for us!

[1]Richard L. Pratt Jr. Christian Essentials: The Attributes of God(Phillipsburg: NJ, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing), 2022. [2]Donald McKim, Westminster Theological Dictionary, 23. [3]Pratt, 42. [4]Pratt, 42. [5]Pratt, 42. [6] McKim, 271. [7]Pratt, 15.