There are fifteen attributes to God’s character we have identified.
1. God is Infinite, Self-Existing and Without Origin. Colossians 1:17 “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Psalm 147:5 “Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.” Genesis 28:16 “And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.” We find more in the Psalm 139:8 “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.”
In understanding this entity one must get out of the confined knowledge base. The fact that God must be self-existent means God always existed forever is not only mind blowing but perhaps one of the hardest attributes of God for anyone to understand, especially the believer who has accepted the redemption through Christ, to understand. In our limitedness, the ability of our grasping the nature of our limit-less God is like trying to hold water as it rages down a river.
Tozer writes this about the confusing, head-spinning attribute of God’s infinity: “To admit that there is One who lies beyond us, who exists outside of all our categories, who will not be dismissed with a name, who will not appear before the bar of our reason, nor submit to our curious inquiries: this requires a great deal of humility, more than most of us possess, so we save face by thinking God down to our level, or at least down to where we can manage Him.”
In his article on Christianity.com, Dr. Adrian Rogers writes about the self-existence of God: “The name Jehovah is used some 6,800 times in the Bible. It is the personal covenant name of Israel's God. In the King James Version of the Bible, it's translated Lord God. Not only does it speak of God's strength, but also it speaks of the sovereignty of God and the goodness of God. The root of this name means "self-existing," one who never came into being, and one who always will be. When Moses asked God, "Who shall I tell Pharaoh has sent me?" God said, "I AM THAT I AM." Jehovah or Yahweh is the most intensely sacred name to Jewish scribes and many will not even pronounce the name. When possible, they use another name.”
2. God is Immutable (Never Changes). Malachi 3:6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” Hebrews 13:8 “YAHUWAH our Beloved King is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is constant eternal love. He never changes!”
The entity must possess an attribute of never changing, meaning He is the same from before the beginning of time throughout eternity. This entity never gets better or worse, His plans never change, nor does His promises.
Sam Storms writes this about the good news of God’s unchanging nature: “What all this means, very simply, is that God is dependable! Our trust in him is therefore a confident trust, for we know that he will not, indeed cannot, change. His purposes are unfailing, his promises unassailable. It is because the God who promised us eternal life is immutable that we may rest assured that nothing, not trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword shall separate us from the love of Christ. It is because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever that neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, not even powers, height, depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:35-39)!”
3. God is Self-Sufficient having No Needs. John 5:26 “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”
This maybe hard for us to understand. As limited humans, we are an incredible needing group of people. When we remain unfilled it results in death. If we do not nourish our bodies we die from starvation, we need to feed the physical cells. If we do not accept redemption through Christ, we die a horrible death. Tim Temple writes, “God is perfectly complete within his own being.”
In a blog post on Reformation21.org, Scott Swain writes that the self-sufficiency of God means he “possesses infinite riches of being, wisdom, goodness, and power in and of himself (Gen 17:1; John 5:26; Eph 3:16). Because he possesses these unfathomable riches in the perfect knowledge and love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt 11.25-27; John 17:24-26), God is the "blessed" or "happy" God (1 Tim 1.11; 6:15).”
God must be self-sufficient; we can go to him to satisfy all our needs. We must feel and understand that we never have to worry about “drying up” His never-ending well of goodness, peace, mercy, and grace. Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, “
4. God is All Powerful – Omnipotent. Psalm 33:6 “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.”
We are amazed of the mysteries of God we have learned in preparing all the books in this series. Can you even fathom the entire mysteries of God? What about the limits of God? They are vast and expand the entire Universe so how do we access? The measure is deeper than the depths of the Universe and longer than what we can even image. Think about this. If God were to put you in jail and hold a trial who could oppose Him? What do you think happened to lucifer? Job 11:7-11 “Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him? For he knoweth vain men: he seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider it?”
Hebrews 6:18 “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:” God can do anything He wills. However, God cannot do anything that is contradictory or contrary to His nature.
In his devotional Forward, Ron Moore puts it like this: “God's attribute of omnipotence means that God is able to do all that He desires to do. When He plans something, it will come to be. If He purposes something, it will happen. Nothing can prevent His plan. When His hand is stretched out to do something, no one can turn it back. Omnipotence comes from two Latin words. Omni means "all," and potens means "powerful." God's decisions are always in line with His character, and He has all the power to do whatever He decides to do.”
“Scripture is clear that God is strong and mighty (Psalm 24:8). Nothing is too hard for Him to accomplish (Genesis 18:14; Jeremiah 32:17, 27; Luke 1:37). Often God is called "Almighty," describing Him as the One who possesses all power and authority (2 Corinthians 6:18; Revelation 1:8). In fact, Paul says that God is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20).”
“Although such power might seem frightful, remember that God is good. He can do anything according to His infinite ability but will do only those things that are consistent with Himself. That’s why He can’t lie, tolerate sin, or save impenitent sinners.” – John MacArthur
5. God is All-Knowing – Omniscient. Isaiah 46:9-10 “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:”
Debbie McDaniel writes this about the omniscience of God, “He can be everywhere, at the same time. And He never sleeps or slumbers, He's aware every moment of every day, exactly what we're up against. He knows our way and is with us always. There's no place on this earth we can go that He doesn't see and know of.”
Tozer writes this about God’s omniscience: “God perfectly knows Himself and, being the source and author of all things, it follows that He knows all that can be known. And this He knows instantly and with a fullness of perfection that includes every possible item of knowledge concerning everything that exists or could have existed anywhere in the universe at any time in the past or that may exist in the centuries or ages yet unborn.”
Because God must be All-Knowing, we can trust the fact that He knows everything we are going through today, have gone through in yesterdays, and will go through in the tomorrows. When we think on this truth, especially when we consider the other attributes of His goodness and love, it makes it easier to understand the truth we place in this cast member.
6. God is Always Everywhere – Omnipresent. Psalm 139:7-10 “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” Jeremiah 23:23-24 “Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.”
This attribute may be hard to understand when we are looking at God. Omnipresent means to be at all places at the same time. We may ask how can that be? We must understand that for God to be in a place is not the same for us as humans. “God’s being is altogether different from physical matter,” the website Ligonier.org explains. “He exists on a plane wholly distinguishable from the one readily available to the five senses.”
The psalmist in Psalm 137 explains it this way. “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.”
God must be always near us. Tozer writes, “closer than our thoughts. The knowledge that we are never alone calms the troubled sea of our lives and speaks peace to our soul.”
7. God is Full of Perfect, Unchanging Wisdom. Romans 11:33 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”
Wisdom is what God wrote into our heart-brain for us to come to the knowledge of through the training of our mind-brain. This means Wisdom is the truth of God and more than the mind-brain knowledge and intelligence we humans’ process. It is only a true wise person that understands all facts and makes the best decisions about all of humanity. So, in understanding God we must use the heart-brain in suppling us with the thoughts of God.
Tozer writes, “Wisdom, among other things, is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve those ends by the most perfect means. It sees the end from the beginning, so there can be no need to guess or conjecture. Wisdom sees everything in focus, each in proper relation to all, and is thus able to work toward predestined goals with flawless precision.”
When we seek God’s guidance, we must seek the Wisdom like this attribute describes. This may be difficult because in our studying God’s word or even talking to Him we must move past our limited wisdom and seek out the limitless of what God’s Wisdom truly is. The reason this may be difficult is we have to understand that God can never be wiser than He already is. However, in knowing this we need to have comfort that God does all things through the wisest thoughts for our lives. There is nothing we as humans could plan better for our lives than allowing the wisest to head the ship in all planning efforts.
8. God is Faithful – Infinitely, Unchangingly Truth. Deuteronomy 7:9 “Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;” 2 Timothy 2:13 “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”
We need to understand that all of God’s attributes we have described are not independent of each other, they are not separate attributes. They are not isolated but interconnected pieces of His perfect whole being. When we read scripture God remains faithful, for he cannot deny Himself, we must understand that it is all His attributes working together, meaning that God can never not be faithful. Wow!
A. W. Pink writes this about God’s faithfulness: “God is true. His Word of Promise is sure. In all His relations with His people God is faithful. He may be safely relied upon. No one ever yet really trusted Him in vain. We find this precious truth expressed almost everywhere in the Scriptures, for His people need to know that faithfulness is an essential part of the Divine character. This is the basis of our confidence in Him.
The fact that God is infinitely, unchangingly faithful means that he never forgets anything, never fails to do anything he has set out to do, never changes his mind or takes back a promise. And his faithfulness pours out from his love, so we can trust Paul’s word that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”
When we study God’s word or talk to Him, we need to understand that this may be difficult for us to understand that it is His plan we are seeking – faithfulness. In some cases, because we seek not of Him but of ourselves, we look upon this faithfulness as abandonment. We look to our current state of societal affairs and question how a God could allow His children to suffer, to hurt, or even die. But what we need to understand God’s Wisdom in all things. We need to comfort ourselves with the fact that God is never-the-less unchangingly faithful, good, and always with us. 1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
9. God is Good – Infinitely, Unchangingly Kind and Full of Good Will. Psalm 34:8 “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
According to Tozer, the goodness of God “disposes Him to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will toward men. He is tenderhearted and of quick sympathy, and His unfailing attitude toward all moral beings is open, frank, and friendly. By His nature He is inclined to bestow blessedness and He takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people.”
When the Psalmist writes “O, taste and see that the Lord is good,” (Psalm 34) he is inviting us not just to believe that God is good but to experience God’s goodness. And, interestingly, as Desiring God writer Andrew Wilson notes in his article about God’s goodness, “the psalmist affirms his experience of God’s goodness from a place of suffering. In verse 19, he makes the remarkable announcement, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” Even with a good God, who is sovereign over everything and has the power to do whatever he likes, good people still suffer. His punchline, though, comes in the next phrase: “but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.” Evil happens, but “none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned” (34:22).
10. God is a Just God – Infinitely, Unchangeably Right and Perfect in All He Does. Deuteronomy 32:4 “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.”
Looking for this attribute in God we find that He is “Just”. So what is “Just”? Does it mean more than just being fair? Why would God being a Just God justify the unjust or even allow hurt, pain and suffering to come to those who have accepted Christ as their redemption savior?
Webster defines just as based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair. But we should look at scripture to define just. Because it is that definition of “Just” we need to seek out in this cast member.
Tozer answers this by reminding us that we find the answer through the Christian doctrine of justification and redemption. “Through the work of Christ in atonement, justice is not violated but satisfied when God spares a sinner.” His mercy does not forbid him to exercise his justice, nor does his justice forbid him to exercise his mercy. He is both fully merciful and fully just.
Considering God’s other attributes of goodness, mercy, love and grace, there are some who might, in error, say that God is too kind to punish the ungodly. But to believe this means we dull the reality of his infinite, unchanging justice. God will have justice for sin, either from Christ’s atoning death or, for those who will not accept it, eternal wrath in hell.
“Let’s assume that all men are guilty of sin in the sight of God. From the mass of humanity, God sovereignly decides to give mercy to some of them. What do the rest get? They get justice. The saved get mercy and the unsaved get justice. Nobody gets injustice” - R. C. Sproul
11. God is Merciful – Infinitely, Unchangeably Compassionate and Kind. Romans 9:15-16 “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”
God’s mercy is not inseparable from His justness. He must be infinitely, unchangeably, unfailingly merciful while be at the same time forgiving, lovingly kind toward all of humanity. He must be inexhaustibly, actively compassionate. He must provide all of this unselfishly to an underserved world.
Spurgeon writes that, “It is undeserved mercy, as indeed all true mercy must be, for deserved mercy is only a misnomer for justice. There was no right on the sinner's part, to the saving mercy of the Most High God. Had the rebel been doomed at once to eternal fire — he would have justly merited the doom; and if delivered from wrath, sovereign love alone has found a cause, for there was none in the sinner himself.
Without the mercy of God, we would have no hope of heaven. Because of our disobedient hearts, we deserve death. “For all have sinned and fall short glory of God,” and, “the wages of sin is death.” But because of mercy, we don’t get what we deserve. Instead, because of the mercy of God, we get life through faith in Christ.”
Tozer writes this about the mercy of God. “As judgment is God’s justice confronting moral inequity, so mercy is the goodness of God confronting human suffering and guilt. Were there no guilt in the world, no pain and no tears, God would yet be infinitely merciful; but His mercy might well remain hidden in His heart, unknown to the created universe. No voice would be raised to celebrate the mercy of which none felt the need. It is human misery and sin that call forth the divine mercy.”
12. God is Gracious in All He Does – Infinitely Inclined to Spare the Guilty. Psalm 145:8 “The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.”
Comprehending God means we need to access His ability to provide mercy in not allowing what we deserve (damnation) and grace in not allowing what we deserve (eternal life).
Tozer writes, “As mercy is God’s goodness confronting human misery and guilt, so grace is His goodness directed toward human debt and demerit. It is by his grace that God imputes merit where none previously existed and declares no debt to be where one had been before.”
His grace must be eternal, unearned, and not lost. Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” Exodus 33:19 “And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.”
Christianity Today writer Patrick Mabilog writes this about the difference of what theologians often differentiate between God’s common grave and His saving grace. “His common grace is a gift to all of mankind. It is the reason that everyone – Christian or non-Christian - enjoys the blessings of life, provision and abundance. Matthew 5:45 tells us, ‘For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.’”
God provides humanity all the benefits of common grace while at the same time those who accept Christ as their redemption savior providing them saving grace. This results in humanity sanctification and glorification of God, giving us the mind-set to live for Him and enjoy Him for all eternity.
13. God is All Loving – Infinitely, Unchangingly Love All of Humanity. 1 John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”
R.C. Sproul in his book, God’s Love writes, “Love. The word staggers before its task of even describing the reality.”
We must look for love to exuberate through all of God’s attributes. This is the only way it can be seen. This love you are looking for must be eternal, sovereign, unchanging, and infinite.
Tozer writes, “It is a strange and beautiful eccentricity of the free God, that He has allowed His heart to be emotionally identified with men. Self-sufficient as He is, He wants our love and will not be satisfied till He gets it. Free as He is, He has let His heart be bound to us forever. God’s love is active, drawing us to himself. His love is personal. He doesn’t love humanity in some vague sense, he loves humans. He loves you and me. And his love for us knows no beginning and no end.”
14. God is Holy – Infinitely, Unchangingly Perfect. Revelations 4:8 “And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.”
John MacArthur writes this about God’s holiness: “Of all the attributes of God, holiness is the one that most uniquely describes Him and in reality, is a summation of all His other attributes. The word holiness refers to His separateness, His otherness, the fact that He is unlike any other being. It indicates His complete and infinite perfection. Holiness is the attribute of God that binds all the others together.”
Matthew 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
Tozer says this about what God’s holiness demands: “Since God’s first concern for His universe is its moral health, that is, its holiness, whatever is contrary to this is necessarily under His eternal displeasure. To preserve His creation God must destroy whatever would destroy it. When He arises to put down iniquity and save the world from irreparable moral collapse, He is said to be angry. Every wrathful judgment in the history of the world has been a holy act of preservation. The holiness of God, the wrath of God, and the health of the creation are inseparably united. God’s wrath is His utter intolerance of whatever degrades and destroys.”
15. God is Glorious – Infinitely Beautiful and Great. Habakkuk 3:4 “And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.”
John Piper defines God’s glory like this: “The glory of God is the infinite beauty and greatness of God’s manifold perfections. The infinite beauty—and I am focusing on the manifestation of his character and his worth and his attributes — all of his perfections and greatness are beautiful as they are seen, and there are many of them. That is why I use the word manifold.”
Ligonier.org writes this about the glory of God: “When we think of the glory of the Lord, the image of brilliant light often comes to our minds. That is certainly appropriate, as Scripture often describes the glory of God in terms of a light that shines brighter than anything that we experience on earth.”
God must be radiant and emanate beauty from all that He is and all that He does. Isaiah 43:7 “Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”