Week five: Attributes of God

The Attributes of God

The importance of a right understanding of God cannot be understated. If your idea about God is incorrect, then you are in fact worshiping the WRONG God. This is not Christianity, but Idolatry. The study of the Nature of God is called “Theology Proper” and is perhaps the most fundamental endeavor that any Christian can ever undertake. Every other doctrine that you may study flows necessarily from Theology Proper. Your view of ethics is dependant on your view of God; your view on civil duty flows from your view of God; your view on the Bible (as the Word of God) is dependant on your view of the God who speaks the Word. Though there are numerous “attributes” of God, we will only look at several here, including Pure Actuality, the “Omni’s”, Simplicity, and last (but by no means least) God’s Unity and Trinity.

A quick word on some metaphors that we encounter in the Word of God that often confuse the Nature of God and lead to heresy:

1) Anthropomorphisms – human forms
a. God is often described with physical form, such as in Psalm 91:4, where God is described as having wings and feathers.
b. God is not to be understood to have a physical form, as the Bible also declares that God is Spirit in nature (John 4:24).
c. To understand which of the statements is metaphorical and which is to be taken literally, look at which could explain the other. Would it make sense to conceive of God as a very large physical being who is metaphorically described as pure Spirit? Or would it make more sense to have a God of pure spirit who is described metaphorically as having wings, arms, eyes, etc.?
2) Anthropopathisms – human feelings
a. God is often described as having human emotions or feelings, such as in Psalm 78:21, where God is said to have wrath and anger.
b. God is “impassable” or not affected by passion. Another way to state this would be to say that God experiences all of His “emotions” eternally and simultaneously; God’s feelings are beyond time and not affected by what we do. We, however, experience God’s “emotions” in time so our perception of them changes based on our situation (in relationship to God). Therefore, it is we who change, not God.
c. The limitations of language and our finitude means that in order for us to communicate things about God, we need to use phenomenological language (that which describes the phenomenon as we experience it).
3) Anthropoieses – human actions
a. God is often described as performing human actions, such as in Isaiah 43:25, where God is said to have forgotten our sins.
b. God can’t actually “forget”, for if He forgot something, He wouldn’t have all knowledge anymore.
c. Rather, God doesn’t “remember” in the context of judgment. He is still aware of your sin, He simply doesn’t count it against you (the penalty has already been satisfied in the Messiah).

Pure Actuality

Pure Actuality – God IS existence, with no possibility to not exist.
1) If it is accepted that the Theistic God exists, this is how He must exist; as Pure Actuality. If He had the potential to not exist, than He would be less than God.
2) Act vs. Potential
a. “Act” is being in itself, the very act of existence. Pure Act (or pure “being”) cannot not be.
i. Pure Actuality has no potential to change, since there is no potential in Pure Act. God does not have the potential to learn, forget, grown an inch, love you more, love you less, sin, etc.
b. “Potentiality” has the possibility to be otherwise.
i. A potential being could potentially be a different being (by changing it’s nature or attributes) or could be a nonbeing by ceasing to exist.
ii. God, as Pure Actuality cannot not exist and could not exist as a different being. God has no potential to be other than He is, nor does He have potential to cease to exist; He has no potential at all.
3) God IS existence, we HAVE existence. That is, in regards to our very nature, we are not “pure existence”; we are “given” existence by another. Only God is existence in His very nature; He is the reason for His own existence. (See Acts 17:28).
4) The Bible declares that God refers to Himself as “I AM that I AM” has been understood through the ages as a declaration of God’s Pure Actuality.

The “Omni’s”

I have no intention of defending these attributes, but will rather simply state and define these here.
1) Omnipresent – God, being infinite and immaterial, is everywhere present at all times. He is not limited by space.
2) Omnipotent – God, being infinite in power, literally has “all power”. This must be qualified to indicate that this does NOT mean that God can do anything. He can simply do anything that power can do; this does not allow for God to perform that which would be self-contradictory. All power is not enough power to “over power” logical consistency.
3) Omniscience – God has all knowledge. He cannot learn, He cannot forget. He cannot even think. He currently possesses all thoughts that could be known of any being at any time. He does not come to conclusions; He is always in a state or knowing.
4) Omni-benevolent – God is all loving. In fact, the Bible even declares that God is love. (1st John 4:16)

Simplicity

Simplicity – That God is One, both numerically and in His very Essence (He is without “parts” and therefore cannot come “apart”)
1) The Bible is literally full of declarations of God’s unique simplicity as the only God. Some examples should suffice:
a. Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear O Israel: YHWH, our Elohim, YHWH is ONE.”
b. Isaiah 43:10-11
c. Isaiah 46:5, “To whom would you liken Me and make Me equal and compare Me, that we would be alike?”
d. 1st Timothy 2:5, “for there is one God”
e. Galatians 4:8, “those which by nature are no gods.” The Bible acknowledges that there are many other “gods” that are recognized by man; however there is only One God by nature, who is indeed really God.
2) There are no “parts” to God; He is actually “simple”.
3) God’s simplicity is indivisible, since God is also Pure Act; He has no potential to be divided.
4) If God were composed of parts, there would be a way to differentiate between where one part begins and another ends, which would mean that God were not actually infinite. If God were not actually infinite, then He would necessitate a creator beyond Himself. This is not possible. Therefore, God must be simple and can have no “parts”.

If God is “simple”, how can He have many attributes?
God’s attributes are not part of His essence but rather things that we predicate (or assert, state) regarding His essence. His essence is eternally and indivisibly one, but we can say many things (all of which are true) about this one essence. His infinite essence cannot be adequately described by a single finite word. Therefore, many attributes may be indicated of the one essence, without dividing or confusing the essence or denying the simplicity of God’s essence.

Unity and Trinity

The doctrine of the Trinity is perhaps the most misunderstood or ignored doctrine of the Christian faith. I would like to start off by first identifying several of the errors surrounding the nature of God’s Unity and Tri-Unity. I would like to look at the errors because they give us a window into the correct view; by knowing what God is not, we may get a more clear picture of what God is.

1) Tritheism – The belief that there are three distinct Gods, who are all separate beings within the Trinity. This is Polytheism.
2) Modalism – This view is also known as Sabellianism. Modalism is the belief that there is but One God, who exists as one person; God only appears as the Father, the Son, or the Spirit based on the need at the moment. This denies the distinct persons of the Trinity.
3) Arianism – Arius was an early Church leader, who unfortunately lead the church into considerable error. Arius taught that the Son was the first and greatest creation of God. Arius denied that Jesus was fully divine.
4) Nestorianism – The belief that there are not only two natures in Christ, but also two persons in Christ. Thus, the Trinitarian view of Christ is denied.
5) Monophysitism – Also known as Eutychianism. The belief that the natures of Christ are mingled; that the humanity and deity of Christ are not only both present, but also both intertwined. This Heresy mixes an infinite with a finite, which is impossible.
6) Adoptionism – This view states that Christ was simply a man with divine powers who was adopted b the Father at the baptism.
7) Binitarianism – This view denies the deity or personhood of one member of the Divine Trinity. Usually the Son or the Holy Spirit (who is usually recognized as an impersonal “force”).
8) Subordinationism – The view that the Son is subordinate to the Father in Nature. The Orthodox view is the Son is subordinate to the Father in function, but they share the same nature.

Basically, there are three main tenets in the Trinity: God’s oneness, God’s three-ness, and God’s equality.

If you overemphasize God’s oneness, you end up with Modalism.
If you overemphasize God’s three-ness, you end up with Tritheism.
If you reject God’s equality, you end up with Subordinationism.

The basic statement of the Trinity, which has been a standard of orthodoxy for hundreds of years in the Church is the Athanasian Creed,

“And the [universal] faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the persons: nor dividing the Substance [essence] (sic). For there is one Person of the Father: another of the Son: and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one: the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.”

There are two twin truths that cannot be denied;
1) God is essentially One
2) There are Three separate Persons who are identified as God

The Trinitarian teaching is not that there are three Gods (Tri-Theism); nor is it that there is only one God who manifests in three forms (Modalism). Rather, there is but One God, who eternally exists as three distinct Persons within one Essence. There is One “What” but three “Who’s”.

While there is only one God, there are three persons who are all legitimately called “God” in the Bible. Several examples will be given to demonstrate that through the entirety of scripture, there are three who are eternally and essentially God.

This is not a mathematical error. It is true that 1+1+1=3, but we’re not adding the Persons of the Trinity. Mathematically, 1x1x1=1. The Trinity is not mathematically impossible.

Also, it’s not logically impossible, as we’re not holding that there are Three Gods who are One God, or that there are Three Persons who are one Person. Rather, we’re asserting that there are Three Persons who share one and the same Nature as God. This is not a logical contradiction. For example, my human nature makes me what I am, but my individual personality makes me who I am. Just as all humans share human nature collectively, all the members of the Trinity share the Divine nature identically. There are three persons who are God, yet only one essence that is Divine.

But is all of this even Biblical? Or was it developed by some church council in order to force the church to believe something that is not even in the Bible? Let’s look at the Biblical evidence.

No single verse teaches the Trinity; in fact, the word “trinity” doesn’t even appear in the Bible. However, all of the necessary components (God’s oneness, God’s three-ness, God’s equality) are present and it is the implied doctrine drawn necessarily from several verses in the Bible.

Old Testament Implications of the Trinity
That there is only one God has been shown already, but it is clear that there is more than one person who is called God.

Psalm 45:6-7, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of joy above Your fellows.”

Psalm 110:1, “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.’”

Proverbs 30:4, “Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His son’s name? Surely you know!”

Isaiah 48:16-17, “‘Come near to Me, listen to this: From the first I have not spoken in secret, from the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit.’ Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, ‘I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.’”

Zechariah 12:10, “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and the will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”

New Testament Verses about the Trinity
If the deity of the Father can be taken for granted, then it remains to demonstrate that the person of the Son and the Person of the Holy Spirit are divine. If this can be done, then the doctrine of the Trinity can be deduced.

Deity of the Son:
John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

John 20:28, “Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God.’”

Romans 9:5, “Whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”

Titus 2:13, “Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.”

2nd Peter 1:1, “Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Chris, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”


Deity of the Spirit:
Acts 5:3-4, “But Peter sand, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.”

2nd Corinthians 3:17-18, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

Compare Acts 28:26-27 with Isaiah 6:8-10, Paul is quoting a passage where it is the LORD speaking, but he attributes the quote to the Holy Spirit, in essence equating the Holy Spirit with the LORD.

It can be taken for granted that the Father is divine. The above verses demonstrate that the Son is divine and that the Spirit is divine. Therefore, if God is simple and numerically one, there are three persons who are divine and share the divine essence.



So what? If God is a Triune being, how does that affect us as believers?

The Trinity and Relationship:
God is not a being that simply demands us to obey a certain arbitrary ethical structure; rather He is a being that has relationship as a very part of His existence. The Father is in constant communion with the Son, who is constantly in communion with the Spirit (John 10:30). The motivation for Christian love and fellowship is deeply rooted in the eternal example of love and fellowship that God has within Himself (The Father Loves the Son, who is the beloved, and there is a Spirit of Love between them).

The Trinity and the Resurrection:
The Father raised the Son
• Acts 2:22-24, “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know – this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in it’s power.”
• Acts 4:10, “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead…”
The Son raised Himself
• John 2:19, 21, “Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up… But He was speaking of the temple of His body.”
The Spirit raised the Son
• Romans 1:4, “Who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Trinity and Forgiveness of Sins:

The Father forgives: Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.”

The Son forgives: 1st John 1:7, “But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

The Spirit cleanses: 2nd Thessalonians 2:13, “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.”


The Trinity and Salvation:
The Father Designed Salvation
1) Isaiah 43:11, “I, even I am the LORD, and there is no savior besides Me.”
2) 1st Peter 1:1-2, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Glaatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithnia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May Grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”
a. This verse actually mentions the work of all three members of the Trinity. The Father chooses and foreknows, the Son provides the Blood that saves, and the Spirit applies the salvation with the result of sanctification.

The Son Secured and Accomplished our Salvation
1) Acts 20:28, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
2) Colossians 1:19-20, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or in heaven.”
3) 1st Peter 1:17-19, “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like sliver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”
4) Hebrews 9:13-14, “For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
a. This passage explains that Jesus secured salvation through His blood, which He offered by way of the Spirit, to the Father. All three members of the Trinity were involved in the process of salvation.

The Spirit Offers and Applies Salvation
1) Romans 8:9, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”
2) Romans 8:16, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.”

You are not saved into a subservient slavery to a capricious and arbitrary Deity. You are rescued from a certain destruction that you brought upon yourself by violating the moral fabric of the Universe. Indeed, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2) And again, “Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have withheld good from you.” (Jeremiah 5:25) Instead, you are invited into a loving relationship with an infinitely caring God who is intimately concerned with your life. As it says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Chris, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2nd Corinthians 1:3-4)