Who Does God Say That He Is?
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| Christ the Saviour (Pantokrator), a 6th-century encaustic icon from Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai. NB - slightly cut down - for full size see here (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Misconceptions about God abound. But they don't have to. God has revealed His character in Scripture, illuminating the attributes that define Him.
When we talk about the attributes of God, we are affirming something true about God that has been revealed in creation, Scripture, or Christ. The study of the attributes of God, far from being dull and heavy, may, for God’s people, be a sweet and absorbing spiritual exercise. For the soul that is thirsty for God (Ps 42:1), nothing could be more enjoyable or delightful.
Theologians have distinguished the attributes of God in a variety of ways. Some of these include: God’s constitution and God’s personality; absolute attributes and relational attributes; natural attributes and moral attributes; divine love and divine freedom; incommunicable attributes and communicable attributes; holiness and love. All of these approaches can be helpful in different ways. Whatever way we choose to distinguish and categorize these, we must avoid antithetical views of God’s attributes that attempt to pit God’s love against His holiness or His mercy against His righteousness. Likewise, we must be cautious not to adopt an exclusionary principle that will leave out certain attributes in favor of others. For the purposes of our study, we will adopt the classifications of greatness and goodness (following the work of Millard Erickson) as handles by which we can discuss these truths about God.
Attributes of Greatness
Self-existent. When we confess that God is self-existent, we mean He is totally self-sufficient, depending on nothing external to Himself. The source of God’s existence is completely within Himself (Ps 36:9; John 5:26).
Infinite. We gladly affirm that God is infinite in relation to time, space, knowledge, and power. When we say God is infinite, we mean that God is not only unlimited but unlimitable.
God’s infinity and time (eternality). God is eternal, and His existence is not measured by time. This does not mean that God is timeless but rather that He is above time or over time. We must acknowledge that He is aware of what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen at each point in time. Yet there is no time in His action or willing. He has from all eternity known what He is doing and will do (Ps 90:2; Isa 57).
God’s infinity and space (omnipresence). God created space, and He cannot be localized. He has access to the whole of creation at all times (Ps 139:7–12; Acts 17:24–25).
God’s infinity and knowledge (omniscience). God always acts with all the facts. His knowledge is all inclusive (past, present, and future) and complete. He does not grow in knowledge (Ps 147:4; Rom 11:33).
God’s infinity and power (omnipotence). God can do all things consistent with His nature. We confess biblical affirmations about God’s power, not philosophical abstractions. God’s energy is constant and never will be diminished. Where the Bible maintains that all things are possible (Matt 19:6), it is primarily a confession about God’s relation to people, although it also has reference to God’s power over nature (Isa 40:28; Jer 32:15–17).
Sovereign. God is the Supreme Being and Ruler in the universe, is total and absolute, and is in control of all things (Eph 1:11).
Constant and Consistent. Some theologians refer to God’s consistency as His immutability. We prefer to speak of God as consistent because immutability is often misunderstood as meaning immobility. An unchanging God must change or respond in His dealing with humanity (such as His negative response to Adam and His positive response to Nineveh) in order to remain unchangeable in His character (Num 23:19; Jas 1:17). There is no change in God’s nature, character, or purpose, though there are changes or responses in His actions and dealings. To affirm that God is consistent means He never becomes greater, better, or worse; He never learns, grows, develops, improves, evolves, or gets younger or older. While He is consistent, He is not static or isolated from His creation but dynamic and involved with His creation. He does feel, sympathize, and express emotion and passion; but He does so perfectly and consistently.
Attributes of Goodness
Holiness. To affirm God is holy means He is both completely unique and absolutely pure. God is unique, separate from the ordinary sense of life. He is majestic in holiness. The expression of God’s love is regulated by His holiness, and His holiness is related to His faithfulness and the surety of His covenants (Ps 105:42; Num 20:6–13). It is right to see God’s holiness as a controlling attribute in relation to His other attributes of goodness (Isa 6:1–4; 57:15; 1 Pet 1:15–16).
Righteousness. God is absolutely right beyond all comprehension in reference to His law (Ps 19:7–9), His actions (Gen 18:25), and in His relationships. God’s actions are right not just because He pronounces them right but because He acts consistently with His nature, thus His actions are objectively right.
Justice. The application of His righteousness and the administration of righteousness to others is God’s justice. Because He is just, He must punish sin (Gen 2:17; Rom 6:23), which includes the exercise of His wrath (Rom 1:18). Apparent injustices in society will be made right by God’s eschatological justice (Ps 73). But we, as God’s people, are to seek justice in society (Amos 5:12–15; Jas 2:9).
Truth. God makes good His every word and promise (John 17:17–19). God can always be trusted because He conforms exactly in His being to the highest ideal of what He ought to be. This assures us that He will respond to all true worship (John 4:24).
Faithfulness. God’s faithfulness is closely related to His consistency. His will and actions are always found true, reliable, and steadfast. He will never commit Himself to do something He is not capable of doing (Lam 3:23–24; 1 Thess 5:24).
Love. God’s love includes fatherly benevolence (Matt 5:45), motherly care (Isa 49:14–16), and a parental discipline (Heb 12:6) because His love is a holy love. There is in God no thought of personal benefit since He seeks only the good of the ones loved (Jer 31:3; John 3:16). God’s love is an initi
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Grace. God deals with women and men on the basis of His goodness and generosity, not on any merit in us but according to our need. God could love unselfishly and insist that His love be deserved, but His grace requires absolutely nothing. Grace is giving us what we do not deserve (Eph 1:7; 2:8; Titus 3:4–7). God is truly righteous and holy as well as truly loving and gracious.
Mercy. God is likewise tenderhearted and demonstrates loving compassion for His people (Exod 3:7; Ps 103:13). This includes His slowness toward anger and wrath which is His persistent love (Rom 2:4; 2 Pet 3:9). If grace is giving us what we do not deserve, God’s mercy includes not giving us what we deserve.
We can conclude that all of God’s attributes work together. Between His attributes there are no contradictions. One attribute does not need to be suspended to demonstrate another. His attributes are not added together to make up His total being. Rather, in Him all His attributes are one. All of God does all that He does, and He does not divide Himself to act. He works in the complete unity of His being. Thus we can speak of His holy love. To see God for who He is gives believers a God-centered perspective of life and ministry. It also enables us to see theology not from the standpoint of the needs of men and women, which produces an inverted theology, but from the viewpoint of God’s majestic glory.
The Triune God
Scripture reveals the unity of God (Deut 6:4; Eph 4:6; 1 Tim 2:5). It also asserts or implies the deity of three Persons: Father (John 6:27), Son (Heb 1:8), and Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3–4). Also the Bible pictures the Trinity in action at the birth (Luke 1:35) and baptism (Matt 3:16) of Jesus. The Trinity is associated together in benedictions, doxologies, and baptismal formulas (Matt 28:19–20; 2 Cor 13:14).
We can say that God is one in His nature and three in His Persons. More specifically we can confess that there is only one God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three eternal and coequal Persons, the same in substance yet distinct in function. The members of the Trinity are equal, yet they may functionally subordinate at times. Without the Trinity we have no final and perfect revelation of God. God is perfectly infinite, and only God can reveal God perfectly and adequately. Thus Christ perfectly reveals an infinite God to finite and imperfect humanity while the Spirit makes known to us the fullness of Christ.
The teaching regarding the Trinity is incomprehensible. It is truth for the heart. The fact that it cannot be satisfactorily explained, instead of refuting such a truth, rather underscores it. No one could have imagined this doctrine; such a truth had to be revealed. As the church fathers affirmed, the Trinity is divinely revealed, not humanly constructed. It would be absurd if it were a human invention. It is not self-evident or logically consistent, but it is a mystery that God has revealed.
Without the Trinity there could be no salvation from sin in the biblical sense. If there had been no incarnation, there would have been no Savior. Without a Savior there would have been no atonement and no salvation for the Spirit to apply. All analogies to explain the Trinity fall short, resulting in functional understandings of the Trinity, resulting in either modalism or tritheism (one person manifesting himself in three ways or three different gods, respectively). Try to explain it and we might think we are losing our minds. Far worse, try to deny it and we will lose our very souls.
Conclusion
God is not physical but spiritual, not dead but living, not passive but active, not impersonal but personal. As a personal Spirit, God has intellect, emotions, and will. He enjoys fellowship with persons created in His image. The Trinitarian God acts consistently with His nature; He cannot deny Himself. God is absolutely free, holy, loving, gracious, and infinitely wise in all He does. God has fully revealed Himself in the person and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:14, 18; 14:9).
A right response to these truths will create a God-centered life that focuses on the majesty and glory of God. God desires our worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). He initiates relationship with His creatures, and our worship is an encounter with God that only He can make possible by His grace.
Dockery, D. S., Butler, T. C., Church, C. L., Scott, L. L., Ellis Smith, M. A., White, J. E., & Holman Bible Publishers (Nashville, T. . (1992). Holman Bible Handbook (pp. 811–813). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
