90:2; 93:2; 102:12; Eph. 3:8), Creator of the ages ( i.e., of time itself; Heb. God wants us to know that he is omnipotent, meaning that he is infinite in power. God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in his own beinghe is timelessand he sees past, present, and future equally vividly. "Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands." Gods holiness provides the pattern for his people to imitate. And when those things fail to bring us satisfaction, we must decide to humble ourselves and turn our gaze back to the only one who is worthy of glory. 86:8; 1 Kgs. He can do anything at any moment. God, however, has never once been in need of anything. No plan we could make for our lives could be better than the plan he has already crafted and is carrying out for us. In several places, Scripture teaches that God is absolutely independent and self-sufficient. The innate qualities of absolute Deity those features that are uniquely divine. Omnipotence derives from two Latin words, omni, all, and potens, powerful, and means all-powerful. Numerous passages speak to Gods omnipotence: However, there are some things that God cannot do. Below are five things God cannot do. It is by his grace that God imputes merit where none previously existed and declares no debt to be where one had been before.. Only what God has chosen to reveal of Himself can be known. He is tenderhearted and of quick sympathy, and His unfailing attitude toward all moral beings is open, frank, and friendly. Omnipotence comes from two Latin words. attributes of God in order to arrive of good understanding of these attributes. Thus, God sees and knows all events past, present, and future with equal vividness. John tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8). When Paul speaks of the fact that God comforts us in affliction, he calls God the Father of mercies and God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). In his goodness to us, we see that He has purposed to be good in a special way to his people(Ligonier.com). (communicable). And David says of God, His way is perfect (Psalm 18:30). God asks Job, Who has given to me, that I should repay him? Gods mercy, patience, and grace may be seen as three separate attributes, or as specific aspects of Gods goodness. God isnt made of matter, has no parts or dimensions, cannot be perceived by our bodily senses, and is more excellent than any other kind of existence. These three persons are one in nature. . Therefore, he commands the people of Israel to tear down the altars of pagan gods in the land of Canaan, giving the following reason: For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14, Deuteronomy 4:24; 5:9). If you have any questions, please review our, Wayne Grudem is research professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Phoenix Seminary in Phoenix, Arizona. The holiness of God, the wrath of God, and the health of the creation are inseparably united. He is everywhere and fills heaven and earth: Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11). It indicates His complete and infinite perfection. When were thankful for the specific abilities, preferences, and other characteristics with which God has created us as individuals, we imitate his blessedness. He knows our way, and is with us always. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good (Proverbs 15:3). Gods whole being includes all of his attributes: he is entirely loving, entirely merciful, entirely just, and so forth. This is because for us, jealousy is almost always wrong. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according toHis will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. That is why I use the word manifold., Ligonier.org writes this about the glory of God: When we think of the glory of the Lord, the image of brilliant light often comes to our minds. We might not understand his ways today, but we can trust that because God is infinitely wise, he truly is working all things out in the best possible way. Tozer says this about what Gods holiness demands: Since Gods first concern for His universe is its moral health, that is, its holiness, whatever is contrary to this is necessarily under His eternal displeasure. His presence is everywhere in that everything is immediately in His presence. God does not change. Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor (Romans 9:16-18 and Romans 9:21)? Paul says that God is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). True Gods being is all together different from physical matter, the website Ligonier.org explains. In one sense, Gods glory isnt an attribute, but the superlative honor that everything in the universe should give to God (Isaiah 43:7, Romans 3:23, John 17:5). He doesnt love humanity in some vague sense, he loves humans. As with all of Gods attributes, they are not separate, isolated traits but interconnected parts of his perfect whole being. CREATOR: God is the One through whom all things have come into existence; by His unbounded power and knowledge He created finite existence ex nihilo and formed the universe as it now is. This passage and others like it in the Old Testament indicate that there was a sense in which God could not be seen at all, but that there was also some outward form or manifestation of God which at least in part was able to be seen by man. We see evidence that this attribute of God was active even before creation among the members of the Trinity. 3. Pauls statement might be more explicitly translated, who continually brings about everything in the universe according to the counsel of his will.. His promises ( 1 Kings 8:56, Hebrews 6:17-18). The former belong to the essence of God as considered in itself, while the latter belong to the divine essence considered in relation to His creation. Enhance your schools traditional and online education programs by easily integrating online courses developed from the scholars and textbooks you trust. O Lord, how manifold are your works! His righteousness and justice (Genesis 18:25, Isaiah 28:17). Not do what He says He will do (2 Corinthians 1:20, Numbers 23:19). 4:7 ). In context, the rhetorical question, Is anything too hard for the Lord? (Genesis 18:14; Jeremiah 32:27) implies that nothing is too hard for the Lord. On the left are listed various attributes of God. God said, "I AM THAT I AM." For example: The omnisapience of God refers to Him being all wise. OMNIPRESENT: God is perfect in that He transcends all space and spatial limitations, and is thus infinite with respect to space, with His whole Being filling every part of the universe and being present everywhere (not diffused through the universe, but present at each point in His fullness). False The names and titles given to God in Scripture reveal what he is like. Even describing him with mere words truly falls short of capturing who he is our words simply cannot to justice to describe our holy God. 139:7-10; Acts 17:28; of Christ, Matt. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand (James 5:8). Page 3 Introduction to the Attributes of God Doerksen classify the attributes as Moral and Non-moral; Millard Erickson classifies them according to Greatness and Goodness; but most popularly, Charles Hodge, Louis Berkhoff, William Shedd, and Herman Bavinck classify the attributes of God as Communicable and Incommunicable. God, however, has never once been in need of anything. He knows all that we have done and all that we will do. We find our greatest blessednessour greatest happinessin the source of all good qualities, God himself. 42:5), God is near, so He can be known (Deut. The concept of God as good and beneficent may be maintained to be an a priori postulate of higher theistic religion. To God, all of time since the creation is as if it just happened. Exploring the attributes of God helps us prepare for evangelism, learn church doctrine, and most importantly, understand who God is. Omnipresence (God is everywhere at once, but we can only be in one place at a time) Were there no guilt in the world, no pain and no tears, God would yet be infinitely merciful; but His mercy might well remain hidden in His heart, unknown to the created universe. All of Him is everywhere at once. If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 5:4-6; 99:5; Isa. Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord Almighty Revelation 4:8, The word holy means sacred, set apart, revered, or devine. Only one God (Deut. However, it is important for an individual,. Here are 15 attributes of God, what they mean and why they matter: "And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." 8:4-6; Gal. David says in Psalm 103:8, The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.. Fuller divided the attributes of God into two categories: natural and moral. Psalm 145:8, If mercy is not getting what we do deserve (damnation), grace is getting what we dont deserve (eternal life). 1:13-16), God cannot be comprehended as He really is (1 Cor. We can be wise, but we can never be as wise as God. Yet even this is a reflection of Gods wise plan: For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord (Jeremiah 23:2324). To preserve His creation God must destroy whatever would destroy it. False ________ literally means "all-knowing" Omniscience A person can know God better by studying the attributes ascribed to Him throughout Scripture. The Holiness of God There is a great need for a recognition of God's holiness in the church today. 9. 8:2-3), God can only be known as the Son reveals Him (John 1:18; Matt. When we use our will and our freedom to make choices that are pleasing to God, we reflect his character and bring glory to him. Some of Gods incommunicable attributes include his: Some of Gods communicable attributes include his: This breakdown seems pretty straightforward, but while it can be helpful, it isnt perfect. For example: God made us to reflect his glory. This is an online articlefrom the Christian Research Journal. A. W. Pink writes this about Gods faithfulness: God is true. Jesus speaks to his Father of my glory which you have given me in your love for me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24), indicating that there was love from the Father to the Son from all eternity. Every attribute of God that we find in Scripture is true of all of Gods being, and every attribute of God qualifies every other attribute. God loves all that is right and good, for rightness and goodness conforms to his moral character. It belongs to him alone and its the outward expression of his excellence. The love of God is eternal, sovereign, unchanging, and infinite. The psalmist affirms that God is timeless in Psalm 90:2: Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.. God Is Self-Sufficient - He Has No Needs "For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself." - John 5:26 As limited humans, we have incredible needs, which left unfulfilled, result in death. Others distinguish between absolute and relative attributes. Theres nowhere in the entire universe, on land or sea, in heaven or in hell, where one can flee from Gods presence. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please - Isaiah 46:9-10, God is omniscient, which means he knows everything. Wisdom sees everything in focus, each in proper relation to all, and is thus able to work toward predestined goals with flawless precision.. Just as God is unlimited or infinite with respect to time, so God is unlimited with respect to space. Sproul in his book, Gods Love. God has given us some reflection of his sense of goodness, so that when we evaluate things in the way He created us to evaluate them, we approve what God approves and delight in things he delights in. His grace is something we do not earn or lose (For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God Eph. Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (James 1:17). 23:19; 1 Sam. SELF-EXISTENT: God has no cause; He does not depend on anything for his continued existence. As Tim Temple writes, God is perfectly complete within his own being., In a blog post on Reformation21.org, Scott Swain writes that the self-sufficiency of God means he possesses infinite riches of being, wisdom, goodness, and power in and of himself (Gen 17:1;John 5:26;Eph 3:16). He knows our works and deeds (Psalms 33:13-15). Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. He is the author of more than a dozen books including the bestselling. For example, in Exodus we read, Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend (Exodus 33:11). 11:25-27), GOOD: God is morally excellent, and does only good (Gen. 1:31; Deut. That the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. Elihu says that God is the one who is perfect in knowledge (Job 37:16), and John says that God knows everything (1 John 3:20). And, interestingly, as Desiring God writer Andrew Wilson notes in his article on the subject of Gods goodness, the psalmist affirms his experience of Gods goodness from a place of suffering. The beauty of our lives is so important to Christ that his purpose now is to sanctify the entire church that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27). You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:3738). Jehovah or Yahweh is the most intensely sacred name to Jewish scribes and many will not even pronounce the name. Weve complied a list of 15 of Gods attributes; some are what theologians call incommunicable (qualities possessed by God alone) and others are communicable (qualities that both God and we possess, though only he possesses them perfectly). He doesnt need creation for any reason. Still, God possess attributes that we can know (even in just in part) and hes given us his Word as a means to understand himself. 2:5; James 2:19), All other gods are only so-called, (1 Cor. Every wrathful judgment in the history of the world has been a holy act of preservation. God's natural and moral attributes are the inherent characteristics that are closely associated with or belonging to Him. The most common way to classify Gods attributes divides them into incommunicable attributes (traits that God doesnt share or communicate to others) and communicable attributes (traits that God shares or communicates with us). These three characteristics of Gods nature are often mentioned together, especially in the Old Testament. "The Rock! He can sneeze and erase existence. God is spirit (John 4:24), he has no physical form. 2. Do not I fill heaven and earth? O taste and see that the Lord is good! (Psalm 34:8). He desires that worship be given to himself and not to false gods. He loves you and me. His heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. INCOMPREHENSIBLE: God is incomprehensible, not in the sense that the concept of God is unintelligible, but in the sense that God cannot be fully and directly known by finite creatures, because of His uniqueness and His infinitude. says the Lord. (Jeremiah 13:24). 2:5; 11:22; Heb. When Moses asked God, "Who shall I tell Pharaoh has sent me?" 4:4; Phil. His punchline, though, comes in the next phrase: but Yahweh delivers him out of them all. Evil happens, but none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned (34:22). Religious or not, most people believe they have some form of a soul. What are Gods attributes? Practice His presence (Hebrews 13:5, Matthew 28:20). In light of Gods other attributes of goodness, mercy, love and grace, there are some who might, in error, say that God is too kind to punish the ungodly. 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