The Nature and Attributes of God

Contents:

The Knowability of God	The Nature of Descriptive Language	Shared and Unshared Attributes
The Independence of God	The Eternity of God	The Unchangeableness of God
The Sovereignty of God	The Trinity and Unity of God	Discussion Questions
Gender Issues	The Mental Attributes	Spirituality and Invisibility
Love, Jealousy and Wrath	Mercy, Grace and Patience	(open)

The Knowability of God:

Can we really know God? If so, to what extent? What is the difference between knowing about God and knowing God?

For us to know him, God must reveal himself to us:

· Rom 1:19 Matt 11:27 I Cor 1:21 I Cor 2:14 II Cor 4:3-4 Jn 1:18

· Rom 1:18, 21, 25

We can never fully understand God; nor fully understand any single thing about Him

· Ps 145:3 Ps 147:5 Ps 139:6, cf v.17 I Cor 2:10-12 Rom 11:33 Isa 55:9 Job 26:14

· We can therefore expect to continually learn more and more about God throughout eternity : Ps 139: 17-18 Col 1:10

· I Cor 13:12: the phrase “know fully” is actually an attempt to translate a Greek word which suggests deeper or more accurate knowledge, not complete knowledge.

Yet, we can know God truly

· Jer 9:23-24 Jn 17:3 Heb 8:11 I Jn 5:20 I Jn 2:13

· I Jn 4:8 I Jn 1:5 John 4:24 Rom 3:26

The Nature of Descriptive Language:

Words are always approximations, and “gather” reality into manageable bits.

Different languages often do this gathering in slightly different ways. Some meaning is always lost, or at least slightly changed, in translation.

Visual example: a tie-dyed sheet.

The Shared and Unshared Attributes of God:

Unshared attributes = “Incommunicable” attributes: Those characteristics of God that are unique to him, and are not also characteristics of His creatures.

These include:

Self-existence; “Solitariness”; Independence; Unity; Trinity; Sovereignty; Unchangeableness; Infinity; Omnipresence; Omnipotence; Omniscience;

Shared attributes = “Communicable” attributes: The attributes that we share by being made in God’s image.

These include:

Spirituality; Knowledge; Wisdom; Truthfulness; Holiness; Love; Mercy; Wrath; Will; Freedom; Beauty;

We must understand, again, that insofar as we are created in God’s image, the separation between His incommunicable and communicable attributes is not razor-sharp or absolute: there is a “flavor” of all of them in us.

God is “eternal”…not in time….but we are immortal, extending infinitely through time in one direction.

God has three persons in his nature, but we have one person in ours. We are both personal.

We have knowledge, but God has all knowledge.

Except for self-existence, no incommunicable attribute is completely unshared by us, and no communicable attribute is shared fully by us.

Some Descriptions of God:

Taken from Creation:

Isa 31:4 Deut 32:11 Isa 53:7 Matt 23:37 Ps 84:11 Rev 22:16 Ps 27:1 Rev 21:23 Heb 12:29 Ps 36:9 Deut 32:4 Ps 119:114 Prov 18:10 Ps 39:11 Ps 91:1 Ps 84:11 Rev 21:22

From human experience:

Isa 61:10 Isa 54:5 Deut 32:6 Isa 33:22 Ex 15:3 Heb 11:10 Ps 23:1 Ex 15:26

Gen 18:21 Gen 8:1 Ex 2:24 Gen 1:10 Ex 2:24 Gen 8:21 Ps 11:5 Ps 9:7 Lev 26:12 Isa 25:8 Ps 78:40

Ex 33:20,23 Isa 63:9 Ps 11:4 Ps 55:1 Isa 59:1 Deut 33:10 Deut 8:3 Isa 30:27

Questions brought up in class, for future discussion:

· How do we know what things are not true of God? Example used: How do we know that God does not have a wife?

· What do we do about the issue of gender-words used to describe God?

Anthropomorphism in the description of God:

· Many of the verses above describe God by attributing human features to Him. This is called anthropomorphism.

· It is important that we not take anthropomorphisms literally; God the Father does not really have hands and feet, nor does the omniscient and eternal and unchangeable God really change his mind. These expressions are for our benefit in gaining some understanding of the incomprehensible.

· On the other hand, it is important that we not “dismiss” the anthropomorphism as “just an anthropomorphism.” It is important to recognize that, in the first place, God made man (anthro) in His image, so it is deeply appropriate, and not just a coincidence, that God’s attributes and actions can be described anthropomorphically. We have literal mouths with which we communicate with each other because God is a communicator; our mouths are not incidental or accidental, but part of the way in which we are made in God’s image. Our mouths, arms, hands, etc. all reflect attributes of God, in whose image we were made. God does not have to “make do” with what we have to explain his own nature; he made us the way we are precisely to reflect his nature.

Incommunicable Attributes:

The Independence of God

God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything,

• Also called the “self-existence” of God.

• Acts 17:24-28 Ps 50:10-12
• Did God create us because He was lonely? John 17:5 John 17:24
• He alone is independent; all else depends upon Him: Rev 4:11 John 1:3 Rom 11:35-36 1 Cor 8:6 Ps 90:2
• The most fundamental, self-given name of God asserts his self-existence: I AM THAT I AM. Ex 3:14 He alone determines who he is; He alone really IS; He is being.
• God necessarily exists, and we do not. Our existence depends on His; His existence depends on nothing. There is one Creator; everything else is Creature.
• This is the most fundamental difference between God and everything and everyone else. It sets Him apart utterly.
• Gen 1:1 Eph 1:11
• Do our praises add anything to God’s glory? Neh 9:5 Job 35:7,8 Luke 17:10 Is 40:15-18, 22-23 I Tim 6:16

yet we and the rest of creation can glorify Him and bring him Joy.

• Though we are fundamentally unnecessary, we are not meaningless.
• Isa 43:7 Eph 1:11-12 Rev 4:11
• Isa 62:3-5 : God rejoices over us, His bride. Also Zeph 3:17-18
• We must distinguish between God’s needing to do things a certain way and his choosing to do things a certain way.
• Did God have to create us?
• Did God have to save us?
• Does God need us to spread the Gospel, or could He speak directly? Did God ever speak directly in ways that we know of? Dan 5:5 Ex 3:2-5 Mat 3:17

The Eternity of God

God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in his own being, and he sees all time equally vividly;

• Time does not limit God, and as we’ll see below, it does not change God. It has no effect on Him. He created it, and existed “before” it.
• Ps 90:2 Job 36:26 Rev 1:8, 4:8 John 8:58
• Modern physics indicates that matter, space and time came into existence together; one cannot have time without matter. We really do not yet understand time; one of the great puzzles of modern physics is the seemingly arbitrary “directionality” of time: it seems to only go one way, but we can find no physical reasons it shouldn’t equally well go the other. It is thought that the directionality of time occurred at the beginning moments of creation (according to the Big Bang theory.) Prior to the beginning, according to modern physics, there was no time. This concept is very disturbing to atheistic physicists, as it sounds a little too much like creation out of nothing…exactly what the Bible teaches.
• Gen 1:1 John 1:3 1 Cor 8:6 Col 1:16 Heb 1:2
• Compare Ps 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8. These hint at God’s perspective on, or experience of, time. He can dilate or compress. He can infinitely divide the smallest moment. There is no time period too small or too large for him to “take in” as simply “present”. His experience of time is qualitatively different from ours.
• Isa 45:21 Isa 46:9-10
• With regard to both his vision and his purpose, God stands outside of time, “to the side”, and can see it all, and act in it, as if it lay before him in its entirety. One might consider an author and a book that he has written. The characters are locked into the order of their appearance, and experience and act in one page after another, but the author can flip forward, back, and write the story in any order.

Yet God sees events in time and acts in time.

• Gal 4:4-5 Acts 17:30-31 God uses time. He interacts with us in time, because we exist in time and can interact in no other way. This leads us into a closely related attribute:

The Unchangeableness of God

God is unchanging in His being, perfections, purposes, and promises;

• Nothing can “happen” to a being who is not subject to time, to whom all time is eternally present, or “now”. Without a “before and after”, what sense can be made of “change”?
• Ps 102:27-27 Mal 3:6 James 1:17
• This characteristic of immutability is another one which sharply separates the creator from the creature. Creatures are always becoming. God is being, always the same.
• Isa 46:9-11 Ps 33:11 (Instances: Mat 13:35, 25:34 Eph 1:4, 11; 3:9,11; 2 Tim 2:19; Rev 13:8)
• Does God sometimes change his mind?
• Num 23:19 1 Sam 15:29 Rom 11:29 Job 23:13 Heb 6:17 Ps 33:11
• Gen 6:6 Ex 32:9-14 Isa 38:1-6 Jonah 3:4,10 1 Sam 15:10 (God also says: Ps 78:65 Jer 7:13)
• Consider the Jonah example: What is the point or purpose of a warning? How could God interact with us timebound people without using such language? This is another anthropomorphic way of speaking, yet from our perspective:

Yet God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations.

• The Westminster Confession, Chapter 2 states that God is “without body, parts or passions.” The proof text given is the King James version of Acts 14:15, where Paul states that he is not a god but “men of like passions with you”. But it can be accepted that God’s emotions are not “like” ours without affirming that He has no emotions at all. Like the other “shared” attributes, they may be both “like” and “unlike”. God describes himself as “jealous”, “angry”, “grieved” and “loving”, all of which we understand, and furthermore we understand His actions in light of these emotions. Jesus wept and lamented.
• The difference between God’s emotions and ours probably lies also in this area of unchangeableness. Our emotions are fleeting, and we feel them in succession as we are carried along in the stream of time. Our emotions change. In some way, God’s do not. He does not change. In this, His passions are not like ours. His attitude of anger toward the Israelites when they danced around the golden bull is his eternal anger at idolatry, revealed to us at that moment in history as we passed through it. His sadness over the lost of Jerusalem is an eternal sadness, revealed to us as Jesus on earth passed through the moment. Likewise his grief over our lostness and his identification with our various griefs is a fixed attitude, expressed and witnessed by us in the moment Jesus stood before Lazarus’ tomb and wept.

The Sovereignty of God

Omnipotence means that God is able to do all his holy will. God’s will is that attribute whereby he approves and determines to bring about every action and activity of himself and all creation. God’s freedom is that attribute whereby he does whatever he pleases.

Sorting out Omnipotence:

• Is there anything that God cannot do?
• Can God lie? Can God change who he is? Can God break his promises?
• Can God make a square circle? Can he make a stone that he cannot lift?

These questions illustrate that there are logical limitations on the concept of omnipotence. God, like any real being, cannot be other than he is, and cannot act in any way that is truly inconsistent with his own nature. This is only to say that he is real, and not make-believe. Any real entity has certain characteristics which are true, and allow one to describe it in definite ways.

These questions also point out that me must observe the logic of language when we speak about God’s omnipotence. “Square” is defined as being different from “circle”. Without making the words useless, there is no sense in which God can make a square circle.

God’s will in general:

• Eph 1:11. (the words, “ta panta”, mean “everything that exists, everything in creation” in Paul’s usage) (the word “energeo” is the present participle of “accomplish”, suggesting continual ongoing activity.)
• Dan 4:32-35 Rom 13:1 Acts 4:27-28 Proverbs 21:1 Authorities
• 1 Pet 3:17 1 Peter 4:19 our suffering
• James 3:13-15 our plans.

Some useful terminology:

• God’s Necessary vs. Free will:
• Necessary will refers to the things God “must” do because of his nature: speak truth, keep his promises, exist unchanged, punish sin. He does not do these things “against his will” because they are part of his very nature.
• God’s Free Will refers to the things he doesn’t “have” to do, but chooses to do freely, “for his own good pleasure”: e.g. create us in the first place, save us, reveal himself in his Son, etc. Ps 115:3 Isa 48:9-11 Ps 51:18 Mat 11:26 Luk 10:21 Eph 1:5, 9 Heb 13:21
• God’s Secret vs. Revealed Will:
• This is simply the distinction between the detailed plans of God, most of which we do not know, and the commands of God, his revealed instructions to us regarding how we are to conduct ourselves. Not being omnipotent ourselves, we have difficulty fully understanding this. Our closest approach may occur in parenting, in which we give our children instructions knowing full well that they will be broken, and knowing ahead of time what we will do when they are, including the allowing of natural consequences.
• Deut 29:29 James 4:15 Gen 50:20 I Cor 4:19 Mat 11:25-26 Secret will.
• Mat 6:10 Mat 7:21 Eph 5:17 I Jn 5:14
• What about expressions of God’s “desires”? I Tim 2:4 2 Peter 3:9 Are all going to be saved?

Is God’s sovereignty limited by the wills of his creatures?

1. This is probably a misleading way to frame this question, since, as we saw above, some “limits” are simply the “edges” of real entities and do not in any way represent a constraint. It is not that God wants to lie but can’t; he does not ever wish to lie, so never does. Falsehood is therefore a “limit”, but not a “constraint”. A more practical question might be:

Are God’s plans (his secret will) ever frustrated by the wills of his creatures?

• Prov 19:21 Isa 46:9-11 Isa 48:4-16 Rom 8:28 Rom 9:10-13 Rom 9:17
• Ex 8:15, 8:32, 9:12, 16 9:34, 10:1, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, 14:8. (Concordance on all the “hardened”s)
• Josh 11:20 Dan 5:20 Mk 6:52 Rom 11:7 Rom 9:18 (more examples of hardening)

2. Acts 15:18 Num 23:19

Regarding our salvation and election:

3. Thought exercise: Ask the question, why was I saved? To each answer, ask the question again, “Why?” Where does it end?

The Unity and Trinity of God

The Trinity in three statements:

· There is one God

· God is three persons

· Each person is fully God

St. Augustine’s formulation: seven statements

1. The Father is God

2. The Son is God

3. The Holy Spirit is God

4. The Father is not the Son

5. The Son is not the Holy Spirit

6. The Holy Spirit is not the Father

7. There is only one God.

Why should we care about the Trinity? What difference does it make? Doesn’t this just divide the Church?

· First, and most fundamentally, all truth matters. Especially today, in this age of personal relativism, we must be seen as caring not about what makes us feel comfortable or works for us”, but about what is objectively true and real. If the doctrine of the Trinity best describes the reality of God’s existence, we need to know it.

· Second, the atonement is at stake if Jesus is not fully God. Could a mere creature justly bear the full wrath of God for the sin of other creatures? If not, then justification by faith is also jeopardized: how can we rely completely on the death of some other creature for our salvation? There must be something more we have to do. We see this conclusion in the Jehovah’sWitnesses, who must work for their salvation.

· Thirdly, we need to know how to relate to these persons. Should we worship Jesus if he is not God? Should we pray to Him? Is that not frank idolatry?

· Fourthly, and more philosophically, the Unchangeableness of God’s nature is at stake, if he only began to have interpersonal relationships with the creation of us or other created persons. There would have to be a state before creation in which He was truly alone. If He is a trinity of persons, he has eternally been interpersonal.

· Finally, the concept of true unity in diversity is found to be fundamentally true, in the very nature of God, in the Trinity.

The term “Trinity” is never used in the Bible, but the concept is progressively revealed throughout the Bible.

First, God’s Unity is explicitly and firmly taught, in the Old Testament:

• Dt. 6:4-5 1 Kings 8:60 Is 45:5-6 Rom 3:30 James 2:19
• There are many others, but since this idea is not generally the contested issue, we’ll leave it.

Yet even in the Old Testament, there are hints of plurality in this one God:

• Gen 1:26, 3:22, 11:7; Isa. 6:8 This is not the “royal we”, as there are no other examples in the OT of any other monarch using this type of speech.
• Even in Deut 6:4-5, the greatest statement of monotheism in the Torah, the word translated “one” is a word which means a collective one, such as a bunch of grapes, or as in “one people”. (“echad”) It is used in Gen 2:23-24 in the statement that the man and woman shall become “one flesh”.
• In many passages, there are two persons implied in the passage, with both being considered God or “the Lord”. Ps 45:6-7. In Heb 1:8 this is applied to Christ.. Ps 110:1 / Mt. 22:41-46.

In the New Testament, the teaching is moved forward and developed; we come to know, by name, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

• Mt. 3:16-17 Mt. 28:19 1 Cor 12:4-6 2 Cor 13:14
• The Deity of Christ is the point at which Unitarians usually attack; if Jesus was not God, the Holy Spirit is a non-issue.
• The Deity of Jesus: Jn 1:1-4 Jn 20:28-31 Tit 2:13 2 Peter 1:1 Rom 9:5 There are many others.
• The Deity of the Holy Spirit: The triple “name” of God; Acts 5:3-4 1 Cor 2:10-11

Incorrect teaching about the Trinity:

• Arianism: The Son and the Spirit were created by God before the rest of creation, and are very important beings, but not God.
• Subordinationism: Jesus is God, but not equal to the father.
• Modalism: Jesus and the Holy Spirit are simply the one God acting in different ways.

Illustrations and analogies:

• Three leaf clover; problem: each leaf is only a part of the clover, not the whole clover.
• One man as simultaneously father, son, and brother in relations to others. Problem: he is never all three of these to any particular individual.
• “Three blind men and the elephant” illustration: problem: this is really a form of modalism, or simply a matter of perspective.
• Trans-dimensional illustration of C. S. Lewis: A cubic solid would be incomprehensible to a being who exists in a two-dimensional world. Such a being could not conceive of one thing having six squares (the sides) and yet being a single thing (the cube). Likewise, we each consist of one “person”; we cannot conceive of a being having three persons and yet being only one.

So how do the persons of Trinity differ?

• Each person of the Trinity has different primary functions in relating to the world: In creation, compare Genesis with John 1.
• In the work of redemption: the Father plans and sends, the Son obeys, comes and dies, and the Spirit applies, comforts and guides. We never see one person of the Trinity doing the specific work of another.
• On an eternal level, the persons of the Trinity have always been Father, Son and Spirit: Eph 1:3-4 Rom 8:29 Gal 4:4 John 1:3 1 Cor 8:6 Heb 1:2.
• Eternally, then, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have been distinct in the ways that they relate to each other. There is “economic subordination” (the Son submits to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to the Father and Son) together with “ontological equality” (they are all equally God, and no one is more important than the other.)

What are the applications to our own lives?

• Think, “unity in diversity”.
• The family, church, and our communities.
• The working of the world of biology.
• Racial relationships.
• Interpersonal hierarchies of authority.
• Our eternal existence after death.

Discussion Questions:

(These questions are taken largely from Grudem’s book, Systematic Theology.)

1. So far we have considered the independence, eternity, unchangeableness, sovereignty and trinity-in-unity of God. We have called these “incommunicable” or unshared attributes. Yet we are made in the image of God. Can you see any trace or faint reflection of these traits in ourselves as God intended us to be?
2. At what point would it be wrong to even want to be like God, or try to be like God in these areas? When would it become an unholy desire to “be like God”?
3. For each of these attributes, how do you think we will be more like God when we are in heaven than we are now? How will we continue to be unlike God even in Heaven?
4. Considering the independence of God: how does this doctrine make you feel emotionally? Does this doctrine have a positive or negative effect on your spiritual life? How or why?
5. In light of God’s unchangeableness: Is it possible today to have the same close relationship with God that people had in Biblical times? Will we be able to do a good job of raising children in today’s environment? How does God relate to our prayers today, compared to the prayers recorded in the Bible?
6. If you sin against God today, when would it start bringing sorrow to God’s heart? When would it stop bringing sorrow to His heart? Why did God have to send his Son to bear the punishment for our sin instead of simply “forgetting” about our sins? Does God now think of your sins as forgiven or unforgiven? Right now, today, how does God think or feel about sins you will commit a week or a year from now?
7. If we sing praises to God today, when will the sound of our voices enter or leave the consciousness of God? What does this thought imply about the eternal importance or significance of our praise?
8. Consider our prayers. “When” does God become aware of our prayers? When does he begin to prepare their answers?

Gender and the Self-Revelation of God

Two issues:

1. Gender words for God
2. Gender words for humans.

Questions:

• Does God have a gender? Before answering, consider the following:
• What is gender?
• What is the foundation or origin of gender?
• What is the difference between sex and gender?
• Do we see gender or sexuality as having important effects in this world?
• What does it mean to be “male” or “female”? What are the male and female characteristics in biology?

Thought experiment: a new species of fish is discovered, with two distinguishable forms which interact for reproduction. Which is the male and which female?

It is pretty clear that we would know what we are looking for in deciding which was which! Even if there is no internal fertilization, the biologist will look for which sexual cells are motile and move toward and into the other. The penetrating motile cells are called “male” and the larger, receiving cells are called “female”. Another element looked for is support of the offspring during early development: the partner whose body or whose germ cell supports the embryo is the female. In plants, the same scheme is used; the male cells are the pollen, which move into the female; the female supports the new life. The nutritive portion of the seed is provided by the female.

Note that we have said nothing about which partner is larger, stronger, prettier, or dominant. This is not inherently part of being female; females of many species are larger, stronger and dominant, and males of many species are the “pretty” ones. However, the reproductive scheme is nearly universal: the male initiates and approaches, goes to the female, who accepts or rejects the advance. The male cells penetrate; the female provides the nurturing environment, egg, or organ. Then, in mammalian species at least, the female provides food for the young and the male provides food and protection for the female.

• Are men and women the same, generally?
• Is generalization a useful activity?
• Is it legitimate to use emotional word associations to communicate?
• Is it legitimate to use poetry and other "associative or symbolic " language forms to communicate?
• Are there generalizable associations with maleness and femaleness in human society?

Proposition: Ancient culture was different, and more patriarchal. The language was appropriate then but not now.

• Was the culture into which the Bible came an accident?
• Did God have any part in developing the Biblical languages?
• What attribute of God are we invoking here?

If God sovereignly chose the language and culture in which to reveal the Bible, why did he choose to use gender language about himself?

• It communicates effectively. We all understand gender.
• Gender invokes personal relationship and role.
• On what basis do those who desire gender neutrality object to gender words in the Bible? Why do they care?

What Gender language does God use about himself?

• Father, Son, Holy Spirit. With personal pronoun "he " always.
• Does God have a sex? A gender? In what sense? From what perspective?
• Feminine images do occur for aspects of God’s relationship to us: Mt 23:37; Is 49:15, Is 66:13
• What would be lost or gained in converting these concepts to their neutral form, or alternating forms (such as Father in one instance, Mother in the next)?

What Gender language does God use about us?

• Man, Mankind. “What is man, that you have concern for him?” Recall that “Adam” means “man” in the human sense.
• Abraham and Israel were male, yet Sarah's motherhood was important.
• Feminine images for us abound, both good and bad: young camel or donkey in heat, unfaithful wife, harlot (frequent), and finally the bride of Christ. Cities are considered feminine…

Shared (Communicable) Attributes

(4 more lessons): Grudem classifies the Shared Attributes into five categories:

· Spirituality: inc. Invisibility

· Mental attributes: Knowledge, wisdom, truthfulness

· Moral attributes: Goodness, love, mercy, Purity, Peace, righteousness, jealousy, wrath

· Purpose Attributes: will, freedom, sovereignty

· Summary attributes: Perfection, Blessedness, Beauty, Glory.

The “Mental” Attributes of God

We must always remember, in discussing this subject, that God is One real being, and the separation of these various characteristics is only to allow us to focus on them more clearly. We should realize that there are other ways to outline and discuss these characteristics. For example, we are going to discuss God’s Knowledge separately from his Wisdom and his Truthfulness, but these are all obviously interrelated; we separate them only for the purposes of discussion. There is no “standardized list” of God’s attributes, just as there is no “standard list” of your own attributes, but we might easily discuss your education, or your hobbies (though they may be related), your tastes, or your self-control. You remain one whole person in which all these attributes exist.

We are now going to start discussing those attributes of God that are more clearly shared with us. I did not include gender in the shared attributes, because it is not that God has gender himself as that he uses our gender characteristics to explain and illustrate his relationship to us. We are male or female, he is not either, but uses our understanding of maleness and femaleness to explain his relationship to us in the areas of creation and redemption, in which he takes predominantly (but not exclusively) a male role and we all take the female.

The mental attributes include those that have to do primarily with mind, thinking and perception. We clearly share these attributes, though only finitely.

Knowledge (Omniscience): God fully knows himself and all things actual and possible in one simple and eternal act.

·1 Jn 3:20 1 Cor 2:10-11 1 Jn 1:5

·Heb 4:13 Mt 10:29-30 Is 46:9-10, 42:8-9 Mt 6:8

·Ps 139:1-16

·What about this idea of God’s knowing “all things possible”? Consider 1 Sam 23:11-13, Mt 11:21-23

·What about God’s “forgetting” our sins? Is 43:25

·What about Jer 7:31, 19:5, 31:35? (See 2 Kings 16:3, 17:17, and Lev 18:21

·When should we try to hide our thoughts and deeds from God?

·When did God learn about what you are going to do today?

Wisdom: God’s wisdom means that God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals.

·Job 12:13 Ps 104:24

·1 Cor 1:18-29 Rom 11:33 Eph 3:6-10 with respect to the plan of redemption.

·James 1:5 Ps. 111:10 Prov 9:10

·Do we really believe that God is working wisely in our own lives? Is this really the best?

Truthfulness: God’s truthfulness means that he is the true God, and that all his knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth.

·Jer 10:10-11 Jn 17:3 What does it mean to be the “true” God?

·Num 23:19 Heb 6:16-18 Prov 30:5

·Col 3:9-10 Eph 4:25 Ex 20:16 Prov 12:22

·Jn 8:44 Rev 21:8

·What does God’s truthfulness imply about the conduct of scientific and other types of investigations?

·What does “all truth is God’s truth” mean?

·Augustine: “When they (unbelievers) found that we believed, on the authority of Scripture, in things which they assuredly knew to be false, they would laugh at our credulity with regard to its more hidden truths, such as the resurrection of the dead and eternal life.” “..we (thereby) would render our religion contemptible in their eyes, and shut up its entrance into their minds.” 1633 controversy rode on these two verses: Ps. 50:1 and Ps 93:1.

Spirituality and Invisibility

What is God “made of”? (First problem with the question…God is not “made”…!) But what is the nature of his “substance” or “essence”. We have difficulty even forming the question without using words which suggest a creature’s perspective. Not surprisingly, we will see again that God is not like anything else we know.

• John 4:19-24 The Samaritan woman at the well. What is her question? What is Jesus’ answer? What does this suggest about the nature of “spirit”? Compare Ps 139:7-10 and 1 Kings 8:27.
• Ex 20:4-6 What, specifically, is forbidden by this commandment? Why is this forbidden? What difference does it make? Compare Dt. 4:23-24.

God’s spirituality means that God exists as a being that is not made of any matter, has no parts or dimensions, is unable to be perceived by our bodily senses, and is more excellent than any other kind of existence.

• How do we share this attribute?
• “Spirit” is a word used richly, in many contexts and metaphors, in both testaments. Hebrew and Aramaic: ruach and Gk: pneuma both refer to wind or breath. Like “soul” or “mind” or “heart”, “spirit” is not a designation of some part of the person, but of the person viewed from a particular aspect.

• In OT, it is the person viewed as active, moving, being alive; it is possession of “spirit: which makes a living thing alive and able to move and act. Num 16:22; 27:16 Ps 146:3-4.
• A person’s spirit is usually seen as the deepest seat of his nature, and is used in many places to describe the person, as “having a spirit of…” bitterness, jealousy, confusion, anger, deceit, unfaithfulness, harlotry, rightness, humility, compassion, patience, excellence. It is thus fitting that God examines the spirit of a person: Prov 16:2 (“motive” = spirit).
• In the NT, “spirit” often refers to the realm of one’s relationship with God. Rom 1:9; Heb 12:9; 2 Tim 1:7
• John 4:24 I Cor 14:14-15 Rom 8:16 Luke 23:46 Eccl. 12:7 Heb 12:22-23.

God’s invisibility means that God’s total essence, all of his spiritual being, will never be able to be seen by us, yet God still shows himself to us through visible, created things, and we will one day see Him “face to face”.

• Jn 1:18; Jn 6:46 1 Tim 1:17; 6:16 1 Jn 4:12 No one has seen God but Jesus.
• What about Moses, Isaiah, John etc? Ex 33:11, 21-23 Gen 18:1-3; Gen 32:28-30 Ex 13:21-22 Why might God have done this?
• A “theophany” is an appearance of God under some visible form.
• How have we best “seen” God?
• Jn 14:9 Jn 1:18 Col 1:15 Heb 1:3
• 1 Cor 13:12 1 Jn 3:2 Rev 22:3-4

• How well do we keep the Second Commandment? Why is God opposed even to images that are meant to represent Him? What harm may be done by our use of images?

• What is it about our culture or way of thinking today which makes us think of the physical world as more real than the spiritual? Image: Walking in a glen in the morning, with dense mist all around. A person can walk through the mist, which offers little resistance, but must walk around or climb over trees and boulders. Which is more “substantial”, the mist or the person who walks through it?

Love, Jealousy and Wrath

Other than “life”, “love” may be the most important abstract term in the Bible. God’s love for his people is the “point” of the Old Testament, and of course climaxes in the incarnation and death of Jesus in the New. “God is Love” is both fundamentally true and one of the most misunderstood and misused ideas in the religious world today. In this section we want to explore the ways that love is an attribute of God, and how it relates to the less popular attributes of Jealousy and Wrath.

Proposed definition of God’s love: God’s love means that he eternally gives of himself to others.

• 1 Jn 4:8: God is love. Before all time, within the Trinity: Jn 17:24; Jn 3:35
• Jn 14:31
• Toward us: 1 Jn 4:10; Rom 5:8; Jn 3:16; Gal 2:20;
• Sharing this attribute: Mt 22:37-38; 1 Jn 5:3; 1 Jn 4:19; Jn 13:35
• The emotional aspect: Is 62:5; Zeph 3:17-18

God is….

In generating the list which follows, I simply looked up the declarative phrase, “God is…” in an electronic concordance. I have listed only the first occurrence of each idea in this form

• Look up the phrase, “God is…” Verse after verse states, “God is giving you…” Also, “God is with you.”
• Dt. 4:24 God is a jealous god. Dt. 4:31. God is a merciful god.
• 2 Chr 2:5: God is greater than other gods.
• 2 Chr 3:9: God is gracious and merciful.
• Job 36:5: God is mighty.
• Job 36:22 God is exalted.
• Ps 7:10: God is my shield.
• Ps 7:11: God is a righteous judge.
• Ps 46:1 God is my refuge and strength.
• Ps 47:7 God is the king of all the earth.
• Ps. 54:4 God is my helper
• Ps 68:19 God is our salvation.
• Ps 73:1 God is good to the upright.
• Ps 76:1 In Judah God is known.
• Ps 84:11 God is a sun and shield.
• Ps. 99:9 God is holy.
• Dan 9:14: God is right in all he has done.
• Nahum 1:2 God is jealous and avenging and wrathful.
• Jn 3:33 God is true.
• Jn 4:24 God is spirit.
• Rom 3:30 God is one.
• 1 Cor 1:9; God is faithful
• 1 Cor 11:3 God is the head of Christ
• Heb 12:29 God is a consuming fire.
• 1 Jn 1:5 God is light.
• 1 Jn 4:8 God is love.

The jealousy of God: How does it relate to Love?

• Ex 20:5; Ex 34:14
• Deut 5:9; 6:15; 32:21;
• Josh 24:19 In what sense will God not forgive their sins?
• Isa 48:9-11
• Eze 39:25 “I will be jealous for my name”
• Nahum 1:2
• Zech 1:14; 8:2
• Ro 10:19; 11:11
• 1 Cor 13:4. Compare 2 Cor 11:2
• What is the basis of jealousy? What must be true for jealousy to exist at all? Is there a legitimate, godly jealousy? What are the characteristics of such a jealousy? In what ways can we increase the sharing of this attribute of God?

The wrath of God. How does it relate to Love?

• Ex 32:9-10; Deut 9:7-8; Deut 29:22-29
• Jn 3:36; Rom 1:18-19; 2:5; 5:9; Col 3:5-6; Rev 6:15-17; 19:15
• Ps 103:8-13 God’s patience.
• Should we rejoice in the fact of God’s wrath? What should be our attitude toward God’s wrath? How is this a shared attribute?

Mercy, Grace and Patience

• Ex 34:6:-7: The revelation of Himself to Moses.
• Ps. 103:7-18

Mercy:

• 2 Sam 24:14; Mt 9:27; 2 Cor 1:3-4; Mt 5:7

Grace:

• Ex 33:19; Rom 9:15; Ps 119:132; 1 Pet 5:10; Rom 3:23-24; Rom 11:6
• 1 Cor 15:10; Acts 14:26; All of Paul’s greetings.

Patience:

• Ex 34:6; Num 14:18; Ps 86:15; 145:8; Jonah 4:2
• Rom 2:4; 1 Tim 1:16.
• James 1:19; 1 Pet 2:20; Eph 4:2; Gal 5:22; 1 Cor 13:4; Rev 2:2-3; James 5:8

References:

This study has drawn heavily, in structure, choice of scriptures, and discussion questions, from the excellent and comprehensive work:

Grudem, Wayne; Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Intervarsity Press and Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI 1994 ISBN 0-310-28670-0 (1200 pages)

There is an abridged version of only 500 pages, and still very comprehensive and readable, called:

Grudem, Wayne: Bible Doctrine, Zondervan Publishing House, 1999

Both are currently in print. Also recommended and used in this study:

Pink, Arthur W, The Attributes of God

Boice, James M., Foundations of the Christian Faith

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