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A brief study of
the Attributes
of God
What God is Not
What God is Not!
Transcendence
Infinite
Unchangeable
Omnipresent
Knowledge of The Holy: Chapters 8, 9, 13, 14
We can gain considerable advantage in our
struggle to understand what God is like
By the simple expedient of thinking what
He is not like.
We have seen that God had no origin, that
He had no beginning, that He requires no
helpers, He suffers no change and in His
essential being there are no limitations.”
Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter II
Paragraph 2
God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself;
and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need
of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from
them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon
them; he is the alone foundation of all being, of whom, through
whom, and to whom, are all things; and hath most sovereign
dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them,
whatsoever himself pleaseth. In his sight all things are open and
manifest; his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent
upon the creature; so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain.
He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his
commands. To him is due from angels and men, and every other
creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience he is
pleased to require of them.
Larger Catechism #7
God is a Spirit, in and of himself infinite
in being, glory, blessedness, and perfection;
all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible,
everywhere present, almighty,
knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just,
most merciful and gracious, long-suffering,
and abundant in goodness and truth.
Some Definitions . . .
“Spirit” = Incorporeal and personal
Incommunicable – Those Characteristics of God
that are unique to Him.
Communicable – Those Characteristics of God
that are reflected in his creatures.
Transcendence – God is completely separate from
all creation
Immanence – God is fully present and involved in
all creation
Transcendence
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I
dwell in the high and holy place, . . . Isaiah 57:15
15
“It is God Himself who puts it in our hearts to
seek Him and makes it possible in some measure
to know Him and He is pleased with even the
feeblest effort to make Him Known.” p. 70-71
“God is spirit, and to Him magnitude and
distance have no meaning, To us they are
useful as analogies and illustrations, so God
refers to them constantly when speaking down
to our limited understanding. , , we who dwell
in a world of matter, time and space tend to
think in material terms and can grasp abstract
ideas only when they are identified in some
way with material things. In its struggle to free
itself from the tyranny of the natural world, the
human heart must learn to translate upward
the language the Spirit uses to instruct us” p. 69
Infinite
God is unlimited, knows no bounds and is
measureless in regard to matter (a Spirit),
time (Eternal), and Space (Immense).
We shall see He is also unlimited in his
Presence, Knowledge and Power.
Psalm 147:4-5
He determines the number of the stars; he gives
to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and
abundant in power; his understanding is beyond
measure.
4
Psalm 93:1-2
The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the
LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be
moved. Your throne is established from of old; you
are from everlasting.
1
Romans 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and
knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his
judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who
has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his
counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he
might be repaid?” For from him and through him and
to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
33
Job 38-41.
Isaiah 40.
Psalm 139
God's infinitude belongs to us and is made
known to us for our everlasting profit. . .
How completely satisfying to turn from our
limitations to a God who has none. . .
In God there is life enough for all and time
enough to enjoy it. . .
the mercy of God is infinite too . . . p. 47
Unchangeable
God never differs from Himself, He is always the
same in His eternal being.
God cannot change for the better, nor can He
change for the worse – one who can suffer any
degree of change is neither self-existent, selfsufficient, nor eternal, and so is not God.
He remains always one and the same true God,
faithful to Himself, His works and his Decrees.
Immutability
(Unchangeable)
James 1:17
17 Every good gift 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.
Psalm 102:24-27
25 Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the
heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish,
but you will remain; they will all wear out like a
garment. You will change them like a robe, and they
will pass away, but you are the same, and your years
have no end.
God frequently uses
anthropomorphic and anthropopathic and
figurative language
in communicating Himself to us
in the Scriptures
. When the Bible speaks of His “comings”
and “goings”; his “lofty high place”,
of His “eyes” and “arm” and “ears”.
– we don’t take these literally.
Numbers 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie, or
a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he
said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will
he not fulfill it?
Malachi 3:6 “For I the LORD do not change;
therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not
consumed.
2 Timothy 2:13 13 if we are faithless, he remains
faithful— for he cannot deny himself.
Psalm 33:11 (ESV)
11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the
plans of his heart to all generations.
“The divine immutability should not be
understood as immobility. The Bible teaches that
God enters into manifold relations with man and,
as it were, lives their life with them.
There is change round about him, change in the
relations of men to Him, but there is not change
in his Being, His Attributes, His Purpose, His
motives of actions or His promises.” Louis Berkhof
“In Greek thought immutability meant not only
unchangeability, but also the inability to be affected
by anything in any way. . .
The biblical perspective tells us that God is indeed
immutable, but that he nevertheless notices and is
affected by the obedience, plight or sin of His
creatures.” James Boice
“In coming to Him at any time we need not wonder
whether we shall find Him in a receptive mood. He
is always receptive to misery and need, as well as
to love and faith. . . God never changes moods or
cools off in His affections or loses enthusiasm.
His attitude toward sin is now the same as it was
when He drove out the sinful man from the
eastward garden, and His attitude toward the
sinner the same as when He stretched forth His
hands and cried, ”Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” p.53
“The immutability of God appears in its most perfect
beauty when viewed against the mutability of men.
In God no change is possible; in men change is
impossible to escape.
God, they say changes not. The law of mutation
belongs to a fallen world, but God is immutable, and
in Him men of faith find at last eternal permanence.
In the meanwhile change works for the children of
the kingdom, not against them. The changes that
occur in them are wrought by the hand of the inliving Spirit.” p.50
“In the working out of His redemptive processes
the unchanging God makes full use of change and
through a succession of changes arrives at
permanence at last.
God will not compromise and He need not be
coaxed. He cannot be persuaded to alter His Word
nor talked into answering selfish prayer.
In all our efforts to find God, to please Him, to
commune with Him, we should remember that all
change must be on our part.” p.54
“This truth has two faces: it is disturbing to
those who are in rebellion against God and it is
comforting to those who have come to know
Him through Christ.
God will always be sovereign, always be holy,
always be omniscient. . . God's purposes for
Christ will not change. His purpose is to
Glorify Him.” James Boice
Omnipresent
God transcends all spacial limits and is
immediately present in every part of creation.
Everyone and everything are immediately
in His presence.
If He is omnipotent and omniscient,
then He must be an omnipresent spirit.
The scriptural doctrine of prayer most vividly and
naturally assumes the omnipresence of God.
Acts 17:27-28 27 that they should seek God, and
perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet
he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him
we live and move and have our being’; as even some
of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his
offspring.’
Proverbs 15:3 3 The eyes of the LORD are in every
place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
Jeremiah 23:23-24 “Am I a God at hand, declares the
LORD, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself
in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the
LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD.
Psalm 139:1-41
O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my
thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you
know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay
your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it
is high; I cannot attain it.
7
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from
your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make
my bed in Sheol, you are there!
11
“Few other truths are taught in the Scriptures
with as great clarity as the doctrine of the divine
omnipresence. . . They declare that God is
immanent in His creation, that there is no place
in heaven or earth or hell where men may hide
from His presence. They teach that God is at
once far off and near, and that in Him men move
and live and have their being.” p.74
“This truth is to the convinced Christian a source
of deep comfort in sorrow and of steadfast
assurance in all the varied experiences of his life.
To him ”the practice of the presence of God”
consists not of protecting an imaginary object
from within his own mind and then seeking to
realize its presence; it is rather to recognize the
real presence of the One whom all sound theology
declares to be already there, an objective entity,
existing apart from any apprehension of Him on
the part of His creatures. . . That God is here both
Scripture and reason declare. It remains only for
us to learn to realize this in conscious
experience.”p. 76
“The doctrine of the divine omnipresence
personalizes man’s relation to the universe in
which he finds himself. This great central truth
gives meaning to all truths and imparts supreme
value to all his little life. God is present, near
him, next to him, and this God sees him and
knows him through and through.” p. 75