The Attributes of God
This is the first blog post in a series of upcoming blog posts on the attributes of God or what some people refer to as the characteristics of God.
Here’s the way one theologian defines the attributes of God:
The perfections, or characteristics, that constitute His nature and make Him who He is. (Charles Ryrie)
So, when we are talking about the attributes of God, we are talking about the things that help us know more about who He is and what He is like.
They tell us about His character and more about the kind of relationship we have with Him.
Now, one of the questions that might come up when thinking about the attributes of God is this, “How can we really know what God is like? I mean, we can’t necessarily see Him, so how do we know?”
And the short answer to that is because God has revealed Himself to us. Now, not fully and completely. But in as much as He has revealed about Himself, we can know those things.
And when it comes to God’s revelation of Himself to us, we talk about that in 2 ways.
GENERAL REVELATION
General revelation refers to the general truths that can be known about God through nature.
One of the places we see this in Scripture is in Romans 1:20:
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
In other words, we can look out into the world and see God’s handiwork and know something about Him.
As the verse says, His invisible qualities can be clearly seen FROM what has been made.
God has revealed Himself to us in some general ways through His creation.
SPECIAL REVELATION
Special Revelation refers to God’s specific and direct communication (revelation) to humanity through the Bible and the person of Jesus Christ.
Look at what the apostle John writes in John 1:18…
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. (John 1:18)
Jesus Christ, who appeared as God in the flesh has revealed who God is to us. He has revealed who God is through His words (teachings), His character, through His actions, deeds, and miracles.
Therefore, if you want to see who God is specifically, look no further than Jesus Christ.
But God has also revealed specific things about Himself to us throughout all of Scripture.
2 Timothy 3:16 tells us this truth:
“All Scripture is God-breathed.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
God inspired each of the biblical writers to write what is recorded for us in the Bible. Therefore, we go to the Bible as the source to understand who God really is and what He is like.
And as you begin to dive into Scripture, what you begin to see are all of these attributes of God listed throughout the Bible. God reveals distinguishing characteristics of His throughout the inspired words of Scripture.
KNOWING GOD’S ATTRIBUTES LEADS TO INTIMACY
Therefore, throughout this series, we’ll dive into Scripture to learn about several of the attributes of God.
And the more we know about God and His attributes, the better we will be able to relate to Him.
That is what we were created for. We were created to experience an intimate relationship with the God who created us, and that is possible because of the finished work of Jesus to forgive our sins and bring us into union with Him.
The apostle John wrote about this in the opening lines of 1 John 1:3-4…
We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. (1 John 1:3-4)
The more we learn about the characteristics of God, the more we can experience communion with the Father through our spiritual union with Jesus.
THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
Here is a general overview of the attributes or characteristics of God. With each new blog post every week, we’ll dive more deeply into each one and talk about how this helps us experience our relationship with God.
ASEITY
Aseity refers to God’s self-existence. God exists independently of anything or anyone else and is the source of His own being.
ETERNALITY
God is eternal. He is not a Being who was not here in one moment and then here in the next.
God has just always existed.
Eternity refers to God’s existence outside of time, meaning He is not bound by the limitations of time as humans experience it.
IMMUTABILITY
Immutability means that God is unchangeable and thus unchanging. He is never inconsistent or growing or developing.
GOODNESS
God is good and can’t act in any way other than doing what is good. It’s part of His nature.
And being immutable means that He’ll never change into a God that’s not good. He’ll always be good and act in ways that are good towards you. They may not always feel good to us, but we can trust God’s ways because of His attribute of goodness.
SOVEREIGNTY
God is sovereign. He is the chief, supreme Being in all of the universe. He holds all things together in His hands. And because God is unchanging, He’ll never not be in charge.
There will never be another being who surpasses God and rules the universe. He’ll always be in control.
OMNIPRESENCE
God is omnipresent. He is everywhere present. There is nowhere that you can go without being in the presence of God, and since He’ll never change, you’ll never be apart from God.
OMNISCIENCE
God is omniscient. He is all-knowing. He knows all things actual and possible, and since God is unchanging, He’ll never not know something. He’ll always know what is going on and how to fix something that is broken in your life.
OMNISAPIENCE
God is omnisapient. He is all-wise.
Wisdom refers to the way someone uses knowledge. God is able to take all of the knowledge He possess and use it in the best possible way and to make the best possible decisions out of all the decisions that could be made with that knowledge.
OMNIPOTENCE
God is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. There is nothing too big for God to not be able to do it. And once again, since He is unchanging, He’ll never not be all-powerful. There will never be a time when God isn’t strong enough to overcome evil.
HOLINESS
God is holy. He is set apart. God is absolutely distinct from all His creatures and is exalted above them in infinite majesty.
JUSTICE
God is just. He upholds what is right and addresses what is wrong. God is always fair, righteous, and impartial.
LOVE
God is love. It’s who He is. And since God is unchanging, there will never be a time when God is not love. He won’t change and become un-loving, cruel, and mean.
FAITHFUL
God is faithful. He has a steadfast commitment to His promises, actions, and character, even when people are unfaithful.
God is and always will be faithful to keep his promises.
ATTRIBUTES OF GOD MEANING
These are several of the attributes of God revealed by Himself through Scripture. Knowing these characteristics of God will help you relate to Him through Jesus if you’ve put your faith and trust in Him for salvation.
As the One who is Life itself, trust Him to be your Life.
Look for His presence since He is always there.
Lean on His knowledge, wisdom, and power to provide direction in your life.
Remember His goodness even in times of suffering.
Bow before Him in reverence since He is holy.
Rest in His sovereign plan for your life and for this world.
Be comforted that He is just and will make all things right.
Experience His love for you and love Him back.
Cling to His promises since He is faithful.
