The attributes of God are those descriptions that can thought of as "God is ----", giving us an understanding of his nature as he has revealed himself to us. It is basic theology, which comes from "theos", meaning God, with "ology" which is means a branch of knowledge or science. God has given us a description of himself as much as we need to know, or can understand. But being God, he is not FULLY comprehensible to us mortals, more often expressed as in -
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa 55:8-9 NRSV)
Paul also writes "O 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?'” (Rom 11:33-34 NRSV)
It has been described in an illustration that God's attributes are like the spokes in a wagon wheel. They are all needed to give a full picture and yet one attribute cannot be emphasized or given more importance than another. It takes them all to have an understanding of the One True God. I am a 'plain speak' person and do not get into all the more philosophical approaches in theoretical theology. Here are the important attributes as I have found them.
God is Spirit
"On the day when the Lord spoke to you from the heart of the fire at Horeb, you saw no form of any kind; so take good care not to fall into the infamous practice of making for yourselves carved images in the form of any statue of a man or woman, or of any animal on earth or bird that flies in the air, or of anything that creeps on the ground or of any fish in the waters under the earth." (Deut 4:15-18 REB)
"God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24 RSV)
"But (as scripture says) ‘Whenever he turns to the Lord the veil is removed.’ Now the Lord of whom this passage speaks is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2Cor 3:16-17 REB) *V16 refers back to Ex. 34:34 where Moses speaks to the LORD
It is critical that we keep in mind that as a personal God, he is Spirit and this is important because who can really describe in detail what a "spirit" is? We can only say a spirit is "the immaterial essence; essence being the properties or attributes by means of which something can be placed in its proper class or identified as being what it is". We by nature will tend to think of God, He, as we think of a human being, a person with a body. In some of the attributes we must erase that idea from our mind and accept the statements of God's word by faith. In this attribute, I write of Yahweh also being "the Son of God", prior to the incarnation in Jesus being "the Son of man".
God is Eternal
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Gen 1:1 REB) *This includes the creation of sun and moon, that by which we know time; therefore God existed before time was created.
"God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exod 3:14 RSV) * Not "I was" or "I will be"; but "I AM". In John 8:58 Jesus says he is the "I am" who was existing prior to Abraham.
"Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer Sheba. There he worshiped the LORD, the eternal God." (Gen 21:33 NET2.1) * "the Everlasting God" in the NRSV; "the perpetual God" in the Literal Standard Version
"Look, he is coming with the clouds; everyone shall see him, including those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the world shall lament in remorse. So it shall be. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the sovereign Lord of all." (Rev 1:7-8 REB) *The "Lord God" here is the One spoken of in Zech, who is "the LORD, Jehovah or Yahweh -
"...but I shall pour a spirit of pity and compassion on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Then they will look on me, on him whom they have pierced, and will lament over him as over an only child, and will grieve for him bitterly as for a firstborn son." (Zech 12:10 REB)
This attribute of being eternal brings up the question, "Who or what is eternal"? It gets into the question of Cause and Effect. When we think of all that exists in the great expanse of history, what great uncaused cause; brought this about? What or who was the uncaused cause? There are two options: 1, God is eternal and is the Being we understand by his attributes; it is HE who brought this about; or, 2, Dead lifeless matter is what is eternal, and dead lifeless matter has intelligence, will and plan as well as power to create life. Sad that government schools are indoctrinating our young people with the godless materialism that tries to explain it all. I'll put my faith in the Almighty God, The True uncaused first cause!
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa 55:8-9 NRSV)
Paul also writes "O 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?'” (Rom 11:33-34 NRSV)
It has been described in an illustration that God's attributes are like the spokes in a wagon wheel. They are all needed to give a full picture and yet one attribute cannot be emphasized or given more importance than another. It takes them all to have an understanding of the One True God. I am a 'plain speak' person and do not get into all the more philosophical approaches in theoretical theology. Here are the important attributes as I have found them.
God is Spirit
"On the day when the Lord spoke to you from the heart of the fire at Horeb, you saw no form of any kind; so take good care not to fall into the infamous practice of making for yourselves carved images in the form of any statue of a man or woman, or of any animal on earth or bird that flies in the air, or of anything that creeps on the ground or of any fish in the waters under the earth." (Deut 4:15-18 REB)
"God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24 RSV)
"But (as scripture says) ‘Whenever he turns to the Lord the veil is removed.’ Now the Lord of whom this passage speaks is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2Cor 3:16-17 REB) *V16 refers back to Ex. 34:34 where Moses speaks to the LORD
It is critical that we keep in mind that as a personal God, he is Spirit and this is important because who can really describe in detail what a "spirit" is? We can only say a spirit is "the immaterial essence; essence being the properties or attributes by means of which something can be placed in its proper class or identified as being what it is". We by nature will tend to think of God, He, as we think of a human being, a person with a body. In some of the attributes we must erase that idea from our mind and accept the statements of God's word by faith. In this attribute, I write of Yahweh also being "the Son of God", prior to the incarnation in Jesus being "the Son of man".
God is Eternal
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Gen 1:1 REB) *This includes the creation of sun and moon, that by which we know time; therefore God existed before time was created.
"God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exod 3:14 RSV) * Not "I was" or "I will be"; but "I AM". In John 8:58 Jesus says he is the "I am" who was existing prior to Abraham.
"Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer Sheba. There he worshiped the LORD, the eternal God." (Gen 21:33 NET2.1) * "the Everlasting God" in the NRSV; "the perpetual God" in the Literal Standard Version
"Look, he is coming with the clouds; everyone shall see him, including those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the world shall lament in remorse. So it shall be. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the sovereign Lord of all." (Rev 1:7-8 REB) *The "Lord God" here is the One spoken of in Zech, who is "the LORD, Jehovah or Yahweh -
"...but I shall pour a spirit of pity and compassion on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Then they will look on me, on him whom they have pierced, and will lament over him as over an only child, and will grieve for him bitterly as for a firstborn son." (Zech 12:10 REB)
This attribute of being eternal brings up the question, "Who or what is eternal"? It gets into the question of Cause and Effect. When we think of all that exists in the great expanse of history, what great uncaused cause; brought this about? What or who was the uncaused cause? There are two options: 1, God is eternal and is the Being we understand by his attributes; it is HE who brought this about; or, 2, Dead lifeless matter is what is eternal, and dead lifeless matter has intelligence, will and plan as well as power to create life. Sad that government schools are indoctrinating our young people with the godless materialism that tries to explain it all. I'll put my faith in the Almighty God, The True uncaused first cause!