Character Attributes of God
If you were asked to describe God, what would you say? Would there be verses in the Bible you would go to, or perhaps relate a Bible story to describe Him, or would you describe Jesus and how He interacted with people? When you consider God during a time of prayer or Bible reading what comes to mind for you?
I bring this up because our understanding of God is critical to how we read and live out the Bible. Having a common understanding of God will also help you to understand where I am coming from and therefore understand the other material on 'A Contentious Faith.'
There are ten main attributes that God uses to define Himself. These are listed below in alphabetical order. All of these are necessary, unfortunately I think too many Christians focus on a few and ignore the ones we don't like. It is natural after all to discount information that makes us uncomfortable, do I really want God to be Righteous and Just, that is a little too scary to think about when I am not living out His Word. Taking any one or a few of these and ignorning the others will skew your view of God and therefore how you interpret the Bible, which by the way is often why we are confused by His teachings.
What follows is only a brief overview, I would encourage you to study those attributes which intrigue you. For a much more detailed review of God's Nature including many scripture references and how these attributes manifest themselves I recommend Dr. Tod Kennedy's study on God's Nature.
Eternal (Romans 1:20 and Revelation 1:8) - The God of the Bible is unique among all gods, deities, mythical beings and stories; He has always been and always will be. The Bible attests to this over and over again. It is central to the God of the Bible being the one true God, He existed before anything that we know was created for He created it. And when all this ends He will still be, He is eternal, He lives forever, the only immortal being ever.
Holy (Psalm 99:9) - The Lord God is set apart, unique, absolutely one of a kind. No other god who claims to be a god is like Him nor can compare to the Creator God of the Bible. This is what makes Him Holy and worthy of all praise.
Immutable (Psalm 102:26-27) - God never changes, He is always the same. Times, seasons, people, nations, language, so many things change but God never does. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. This attribute is clearly given to the Father in the Psalm passage and is given to the Son as well in Hebrews 13:8 where it says the Jesus Christ is the same every day. Because we change our minds so often we think God does, He doesn't and in fact He can't. If He changed He wouldn't be God, He would be some thing else but not God. The way He deals with us may change but His nature does not.
Just (Deuteronomy 32:4) - We often cry out for justice when an innocent person is harmed or killed, and rightly so. When we call out to God for justice we can have the highest confidence in the outcome because He is perfect, solid and stable as a rock and therefore His judgement is absolutely perfect. I am glad though that this isn't His only attribute for I would be utterly destroyed because of His justice if it wasn't for His long suffering nature and love.
Long Suffering (Numbers 14:18) - Hallelujah for He is great of mercy and is forgiving of iniquity (sin, disobedience). In 2 Peter 3:9 it is very clear what this means, He waits and waits and waits, giving us opportunity after opportunity to either repent and return to Him in faith or recognize our sin and seek Him for salvation. Our sin causes Him pain and He will judge sin but until that time comes He suffers long as He calls and waits.
Love (1 John 4:7-8) - God is love. Every good thought, attitude, emotion or action that we can associate with love is epitomized by our Heavenly Father. He defines and sets the standard for love, "For God so loved the world" and each of us in it that "He gave His only begotten Son," this is the highest standard of love. Just remember that His love is tempered by and balanced with His other attributes. He can be fully Love and fully Just at the same time.
Omnipotent (Genesis 17:1) - God does not use his absolute power over all things like we would, selfishly or much like a dictator does, but uses it to accomplish His purposes like is expressed in John 3:16-17 or 2 Peter 3:9. In the book of Job God recounts many facets of creation including great sea monsters and simple rain, in chapter 42 Job replies that he now knows God can do anything and everything
Omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-12) - He is everywhere. This does not mean He is in everything like some people believe that a flower is god or an animal is god like pantheists do, but that God is present throughout His creation, He is not bound by geography or locality like we are. It is so comforting to know that you can not escape from God, you can never go so far as to be beyond His loving reach.
Omniscient (Psalm 139:1-6) - Doesn't it make sense that if the God of the Bible created all things by His might that He would also know all things. Think about this if God knows all things then He knows all of your sins, faults and failings. He knows of every mistake you will ever or have ever made, of every bad thought or burst of anger. And yet knowing what a wretch each of us is, He still reached out in love through His Son Jesus on a cross some 2,000 years ago to offer us salvation. That is a great combination of knowing all things and love.
Sovereignty (Psalm 115:3) - Seems reasonable doesn't it, that the God of all creation would be able to do whatever He pleases? And He can, but I also think we have demonstrated that He imposes limits on Himself in that He cannot and will not go against His own character and nature.
Veracity (Titus 1:2 - Hebrews 6:18) - Veracity is a fancy word for truth and truthfulness. In God is absolute truth, the source of all truth. Do you know what this means? It means there is one thing God cannot do, He can't lie!
I bring this up because our understanding of God is critical to how we read and live out the Bible. Having a common understanding of God will also help you to understand where I am coming from and therefore understand the other material on 'A Contentious Faith.'
There are ten main attributes that God uses to define Himself. These are listed below in alphabetical order. All of these are necessary, unfortunately I think too many Christians focus on a few and ignore the ones we don't like. It is natural after all to discount information that makes us uncomfortable, do I really want God to be Righteous and Just, that is a little too scary to think about when I am not living out His Word. Taking any one or a few of these and ignorning the others will skew your view of God and therefore how you interpret the Bible, which by the way is often why we are confused by His teachings.
What follows is only a brief overview, I would encourage you to study those attributes which intrigue you. For a much more detailed review of God's Nature including many scripture references and how these attributes manifest themselves I recommend Dr. Tod Kennedy's study on God's Nature.
Eternal (Romans 1:20 and Revelation 1:8) - The God of the Bible is unique among all gods, deities, mythical beings and stories; He has always been and always will be. The Bible attests to this over and over again. It is central to the God of the Bible being the one true God, He existed before anything that we know was created for He created it. And when all this ends He will still be, He is eternal, He lives forever, the only immortal being ever.
Holy (Psalm 99:9) - The Lord God is set apart, unique, absolutely one of a kind. No other god who claims to be a god is like Him nor can compare to the Creator God of the Bible. This is what makes Him Holy and worthy of all praise.
Immutable (Psalm 102:26-27) - God never changes, He is always the same. Times, seasons, people, nations, language, so many things change but God never does. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. This attribute is clearly given to the Father in the Psalm passage and is given to the Son as well in Hebrews 13:8 where it says the Jesus Christ is the same every day. Because we change our minds so often we think God does, He doesn't and in fact He can't. If He changed He wouldn't be God, He would be some thing else but not God. The way He deals with us may change but His nature does not.
Just (Deuteronomy 32:4) - We often cry out for justice when an innocent person is harmed or killed, and rightly so. When we call out to God for justice we can have the highest confidence in the outcome because He is perfect, solid and stable as a rock and therefore His judgement is absolutely perfect. I am glad though that this isn't His only attribute for I would be utterly destroyed because of His justice if it wasn't for His long suffering nature and love.
Long Suffering (Numbers 14:18) - Hallelujah for He is great of mercy and is forgiving of iniquity (sin, disobedience). In 2 Peter 3:9 it is very clear what this means, He waits and waits and waits, giving us opportunity after opportunity to either repent and return to Him in faith or recognize our sin and seek Him for salvation. Our sin causes Him pain and He will judge sin but until that time comes He suffers long as He calls and waits.
Love (1 John 4:7-8) - God is love. Every good thought, attitude, emotion or action that we can associate with love is epitomized by our Heavenly Father. He defines and sets the standard for love, "For God so loved the world" and each of us in it that "He gave His only begotten Son," this is the highest standard of love. Just remember that His love is tempered by and balanced with His other attributes. He can be fully Love and fully Just at the same time.
Omnipotent (Genesis 17:1) - God does not use his absolute power over all things like we would, selfishly or much like a dictator does, but uses it to accomplish His purposes like is expressed in John 3:16-17 or 2 Peter 3:9. In the book of Job God recounts many facets of creation including great sea monsters and simple rain, in chapter 42 Job replies that he now knows God can do anything and everything
Omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-12) - He is everywhere. This does not mean He is in everything like some people believe that a flower is god or an animal is god like pantheists do, but that God is present throughout His creation, He is not bound by geography or locality like we are. It is so comforting to know that you can not escape from God, you can never go so far as to be beyond His loving reach.
Omniscient (Psalm 139:1-6) - Doesn't it make sense that if the God of the Bible created all things by His might that He would also know all things. Think about this if God knows all things then He knows all of your sins, faults and failings. He knows of every mistake you will ever or have ever made, of every bad thought or burst of anger. And yet knowing what a wretch each of us is, He still reached out in love through His Son Jesus on a cross some 2,000 years ago to offer us salvation. That is a great combination of knowing all things and love.
Sovereignty (Psalm 115:3) - Seems reasonable doesn't it, that the God of all creation would be able to do whatever He pleases? And He can, but I also think we have demonstrated that He imposes limits on Himself in that He cannot and will not go against His own character and nature.
Veracity (Titus 1:2 - Hebrews 6:18) - Veracity is a fancy word for truth and truthfulness. In God is absolute truth, the source of all truth. Do you know what this means? It means there is one thing God cannot do, He can't lie!
