You know so many people have all kinds of ideas about God. God’s wrath is His utter intolerance of whatever degrades and destroys.”. 1:8, 17; 2:8; 3:14; 21:6; 22:13), No God before or after Yahweh (Isa. Copyright © 2021, Bible Study Tools. Note that God may be more than personal, indeed, His infinite nature suggests that He must be. Wisdom is more than just head knowledge and intelligence. A Christian Perspective, Bespoke Religiosity and the Rise of the Nones: a review of Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World by Tara Isabella Burton, a. “Let’s assume that all men are guilty of sin in the sight of God. Because grace is a part of who God is and not just an action he bestows, it means we can trust that grace is eternal. Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea. It is the reason that everyone – Christian or non-Christian - enjoys the blessings of life, provision and abundance. See main page: Sovereignty of God See also Knowability of God God Trinity Resources Stephen Charnock & William Symington, The Existence And Attributes Of God … Attributes of God include but are not limited to Wisdom, Infinitude, Sovereignty, Holiness, Trinity, Omniscience, Faithfulness, Love, Omnipotence, Self-existence, Self-sufficiency, Justice, Immutability, Mercy, Eternal, Goodness, Graciousness, and Omnipresence. He loves you because He is God and you are His creation. Likewise, although this is hard for many to accept, his sentencing of evil, unrepentant sinners to hell is also right and good. 4. The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy or Shelosh-'Esreh Middot HaRakhamim (transliterated from the Hebrew: ש לו ש ־ע ש ר ה מ יד ו ת ה ר ח מ ים) as enumerated in the Book of Exodus (Exodus 34:6–7) are the Divine Attributes with which, according to Judaism, God governs the world. What is God Like? 14. God can be depended on to be consistent, d. We must separate ourselves from the practice of evil, e. We must not try to force God into something we can picture, f. We cannot do anything for God’s benefit, h. We can never accuse God of being unfair, i. God Is Almighty. What does it mean that God is just? 8:2-3), God can only be known as the Son reveals Him (John 1:18; Matt. Attributes of God Genesis 1:1-5. 1:2; 11:3), Implied by doctrines of transcendence, self-existence, and immutability, The universe cannot contain God (1 Kings 8:27; Isa. Spurgeon writes that, “It is undeserved mercy, as indeed all true mercy must be, for deserved mercy is only a misnomer for justice. 32:9-14; Psa. We’ve complied a list of 15 of God’s 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). atheists are also welcomed to reply. 2:4), Moses was “as God,” not God or divine (Ex. Each of them points us to seeing God correctly: as good, gracious, and reliable. As with God’s other perfect attributes, Christians find it easier to affirm the goodness of God when things are going well. Yet, it is important to understand that for God “to be” in a place is not the same way we are in a place. His purposes are unfailing, his promises unassailable. The distinctions Omnipresence (God is everywher… ETERNAL: God is perfect in that He transcends all time and temporal limitations, and is thus infinite with respect to time. Free as He is, He has let His heart be bound to us forever. - Colossians 1:17, “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure” – Psalm 147:5. When He arises to put down iniquity and save the world from irreparable moral collapse, He is said to be angry. - Romans 9:15-16, As noted above, God’s mercy is inseparable from his justness. Some suggest that because God is infinite, his attributes are infinite No one ever yet really trusted Him in vain. But to believe this means we dull the reality of his infinite, unchanging justice. 1:17). 23:24; Acts 17:28), Unchangeable (Psa. It’s important to note the “anything he wills” part of that statement, because God cannot do anything that is contradictory or contrary to his nature. Salem Media Group. - Deut 7:9, “[I]f we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13. No voice would be raised to celebrate the mercy of which none felt the need. God’s love is unconditional. An attribute of God is something true about him. God is infinitely wise, consistently wise, perfectly wise. 66:1; Acts 7:48-49), Present everywhere (Psa. 10:20; 2 Cor. The Goodness of God. 2 1. It was, it is and shall always remain. 3:26), TRUE: God is perfectly truthful, and cannot lie (John 17:17; Titus 1:2; Heb. If He purposes something, it will happen. Goodness of God can be divided into the following. These passages support the position and title of God as being the “Almighty God” (mentioned 3 times) and “God Almighty” (mentioned 11 times) Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. Which attributes of God are communicable or incommunicable? What follows is a poor attempt at listing and defining God's most prominent attributes as stated or implied in Scripture. Because of our disobedient hearts, we deserve death. 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. The Righteousness of God. When Moses asked God, "Who shall I tell Pharaoh has sent me?" Anonymous . I want to spend some time on the word G-O-D in that verse. One of God's primary attributes is that of Creator of all things (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 24:1). 11:25-27), GOOD: God is morally excellent, and does only good (Gen. 1:31; Deut. 2:5; 11:22; Heb. God’s love is active, drawing us to himself. Start studying ATTRIBUTES OF GOD QUIZ 3. So our whole existence and purpose is to glorify him, as we are created in his image and do the good work he has prepared for us to do. Love of God. “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord Almighty” – Revelation 4:8, The word holy means sacred, set apart, revered, or devine. God is able and powerful to do anything he wills without any effort on his part. 3:8), Creator of the ages ( i.e., of time itself; Heb. Thankfully, the Christian will never have to experience God’s holy wrath poured out. 102:26-27; Isa. And his love for us knows no beginning and no end. SELF-EXISTENT: God has no cause; He does not depend on anything for his continued existence. 41:22-23; 42:9; 44:7), God is not a man (Num. ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ declares the Lord” - Jeremiah 23:23-24, To be omnipresent is to be in all places, at all times. It was, it is and shall always remain. 11. The divine attributes At the heart of philosophy of religion is the concept of God. 6:18), LOVING: God’s moral character is pure love, sacrificial giving for the true benefit of another (Deut. Although the purpose of this page is give an overview of the Attributes of God, I must apologize because this table is not even "the fringes of His ways and how faint a word we hear of Him! " “The knowledge that we are never alone calms the troubled sea of our lives and speaks peace to our soul.”, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Similar to the way one might describe a close friend to another individual, so too do these attributes describe God's character and nature. 139:7-10; Acts 17:28; of Christ, Matt. Of all the attributes of God, holiness is the one that most uniquely describes Him. TRANSCENDENT: God is entirely distinct from the universe, as the carpenter is distinct from the bench; excluding pantheism (God in all) and animism (everything is a god). We never have to worry about “drying up” his never-ending well of goodness, peace, mercy and grace. All rights reserved. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20), “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” – Psalm 33:6, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? 7. God is a Trinity. When life takes a nosedive, though, that’s when we begin to question God’s goodness to and for us. A Look at Virtue Signaling. 1.f   2.n   3.j   4.a   5.g   6.r   7.b   8.p   9.m   10.k   11.c   12.i   13.e   14.l   15.d   16.h   17.o   18.s   19.q. “As mercy is God’s goodness confronting human misery and guilt,” Tozer writes, “so grace is His goodness directed toward human debt and demerit. Isaiah 43:7 says that man was created by God for his glory. - God is omnipresent. Without Christ taking the place for us and dying for our sins, we would all fall short of God’s holy standard. “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Sons.” Attributes of God Attributes of God – The Meaning “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” So says A.W. “God’s being is all together different from physical matter,” the website Ligonier.org explains. The three persons in the Godhead are not so many parts of which the divine essence is composed. He is both fully merciful and fully just. 1:11-12; James 1:17; Heb. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all called God, given worship as God, exist eternally, and are involved in doing things only God could do. They are His distinguishing features that only He possesses. (2 Tim. of The three Persons are not each part of God, but are each fully God and equally God. The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy or Shelosh-'Esreh Middot HaRakhamim (transliterated from the Hebrew: שְׁלוֹשׁ־עֶשְׂרֵה מִידּוֹת הַרַחֲמִים) as enumerated in the Book of Exodus (Exodus 34:6–7) are the Divine Attributes with which, according to Judaism, God governs the world.. They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? For instance, a stop sign points to the command to stop the movement of a vehicle. Humans struggle to grasp these concepts because we, as finite beings, cannot imagine the complexity of such things. 4:5-6; 1 Tim. 4:7; Jer. There's no place on this earth we can go that He doesn't see and know of.”, Tozer writes this about God’s omniscience: “God perfectly knows Himself and, being the source and author of all things, it follows that He knows all that can be known. When we meditate on this truth, especially in light of his other attributes of goodness and love, it makes it easier to trust him with all we have going on in our lives, from the very serious to the silly and mundane. 6:3; 8:13; Hab. In order to be truly “infinitely” perfect, a being has to be perfect in all qualities. “For all have sinned and fall short glory of God,” and, “the wages of sin is death.” But because of mercy, we don’t get what we deserve. 3:19), Wicked judges called “gods” in irony, not to describe nature (Psa. No task is too big for Him. Man splits and divides and sorts and keeps the history of God in records. The fact that he is unchanging means he can never not be faithful. God loves us fiercely, but His justice is as concrete as His love. God, however, has never once been in need of anything. 2:8). And He … 4:35, 39; Psa. 2:5; James 2:19), All other “gods” are only “so-called,” (1 Cor. Jehovah or Yahweh is the most intensely sacred name to Jewish scribes and many will not even pronounce the name. Tozer writes, “Wisdom, among other things, is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve those ends by the most perfect means. 10. 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. Or where shall I flee from your presence? That’s why He can’t lie, tolerate sin, or save impenitent sinners.” – John MacArthur, “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. His mercy flows from his goodness. 8:35-39)!”, “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. So come, let us understand some of the main attributes of God… Eternal. 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. God is love and this loves shines through eternity through the greatest act of love in the history of all eternity. The holiness of God, the wrath of God, and the health of the creation are inseparably united. God is not good because it is attractive for Him to be so, nor does He follow after some sort of standard for goodness. IMMANENT: Though transcendent, God is present with and in the world; excluding deism (God is out there but not here). 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). Every Soul is permanent in nature. Nothing is too hard for Him to accomplish (Genesis 18:14; Jeremiah 32:17, 27; Luke 1:37). He is three in one, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. Since God is infinite and ultimate and faith in God is the ultimate concern, Tillich asserts that only symbolic language is sufficient to express faith and God. Trinity: Though the actual word is not used in the Bible, the truth of God revealing Himself in three persons is included. Omnipotent means to have unlimited power (omni = all; potent = powerful). 16:7; 1 Chr. Nobody gets injustice” - R. C. Sproul, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy." And He never sleeps or slumbers, He's aware every moment of every day, exactly what we're up against. There was no right on the sinner's part, to the saving mercy of the Most High God. Every wrathful judgment in the history of the world has been a holy act of preservation. And his standard for us is perfection as well. When talking about the grace of God, theologians will often differentiate between God’s common grace and his saving grace. 1 Yes, God has three unique characteristics that will never be found in any creation. The root of this name means "self-existing," one who never came into being, and one who always will be. 82:1, 6; John 10:34-36), Yahweh is Elohim (Gen. 2:4; Deut. 8. 103:8-9; Rom. The fact that God can never be more wise means he is always doing the wisest thing in our lives. The Soul is an eternal element. 1. He is inexhaustibly, actively compassionate. However, the Lord ( Job 26:14 ) As Horner has written "There can be no condensed learning of God; the very thought is an insult to His transcendent majesty. This ought to be a source of incredible joy for believers. Now as we begin this lesson, I’m going to have you come right back to where we left off in the last lesson and that would be Genesis 1:1. 13. 1:23; 4:10; Col. 3:11), Nothing too difficult (Gen. 18:14; Jer. It is because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever that neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, not even powers, height, depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. Attributes Of God, first appeared as articles in the monthly Studies In The Scriptures published from 1922 to 1953. He is one of a kind, unique and without comparison. If I ascend to heaven, you are there! 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