The Attributes of God 1

[Arthur81]

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!

 

[Karl Peters]

I kind of like the OP!

Yet there are a few things I wonder about that are in it.

On is the opening statement:

The attributes of God are those descriptions that can thought of as "God is ----"

Are God's attributes on those descriptions that can be "THOUGHT" of as "God is---"????

I appreciate the thinking but our thinking or thoughts do not define God and His attributes so they??

Of course not, otherwise God is only in my head and is not real!!

Indeed, when I listen to Him He teaches me and He teaches me even about His attributes!!

So another thing in the Op which I wonder about is:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.

I mean God's attributes being connected to what can be "thought of" goes against the above verse - that out thoughts are not His thoughts!!

So there is direct conflict between what is written in the OP and what is written in the OP!! How did that happen.

Is the answer in that a result of our trying to live by our study of Him and not via a relationship with Him? Which brings me to another thing I wonder about in the OP. Which is:

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.

Theology is our study and our understanding of God via our study.

ology - means a branch of study, and Theo means God. So saying "Theology is saying we have a branch of study with is studying God. However, knowing Him as a friend is not a study of Him but a relationship with Him. That is I don't have the Lord our God Jesus Christ as a friend to study Him but to just be friends with Him. Of course being friends with Him who also goes by Teacher, means I am going to get taught by Him, and that also means studying the textbook the teacher provides, yet having Him as a friend is soooooo much more than this that. Being friends with someone gives you more understanding that just a study about that person does, right?

So this brings me to wondering about the OP which is:

"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.

I love the verse. To me that verse really fits Him, because if He is the "I AM" then He is always with me to talk to, right? So if God is indeed always with me to I really care so much about His attributes or do I care to really get to know Him as a person always with me???

Well, I don't know about others but I like talking to Him. He is weird, because He doesn't think like me. As high as the heavens are above the earth are His thoughts above my thoughts, and since He is always with me I kind of like talking to Him. If you think the OP can get you thinking... and I will give the author of the OP some credit for getting me thinking.... then certianly God can get you thinking more and even better right??? And He is always with you, so isn't that the real message we are trying to get out there to people... that they can get to actually know Him, so they don't have to even lean on their own understanding of Him, but instead they can actually talk to Him??

 

[Arthur81]

I kind of like the OP!

Yet there are a few things I wonder about that are in it.

On is the opening statement:



Are God's attributes on those descriptions that can be "THOUGHT" of as "God is---"????

I appreciate the thinking but our thinking or thoughts do not define God and His attributes so they??

Of course not, otherwise God is only in my head and is not real!!

Indeed, when I listen to Him He teaches me and He teaches me even about His attributes!!

So another thing in the Op which I wonder about is:



I mean God's attributes being connected to what can be "thought of" goes against the above verse - that out thoughts are not His thoughts!!

So there is direct conflict between what is written in the OP and what is written in the OP!! How did that happen.

Is the answer in that a result of our trying to live by our study of Him and not via a relationship with Him? Which brings me to another thing I wonder about in the OP. Which is:



Theology is our study and our understanding of God via our study.

ology - means a branch of study, and Theo means God. So saying "Theology is saying we have a branch of study with is studying God. However, knowing Him as a friend is not a study of Him but a relationship with Him. That is I don't have the Lord our God Jesus Christ as a friend to study Him but to just be friends with Him. Of course being friends with Him who also goes by Teacher, means I am going to get taught by Him, and that also means studying the textbook the teacher provides, yet having Him as a friend is soooooo much more than this that. Being friends with someone gives you more understanding that just a study about that person does, right?

So this brings me to wondering about the OP which is:



I love the verse. To me that verse really fits Him, because if He is the "I AM" then He is always with me to talk to, right? So if God is indeed always with me to I really care so much about His attributes or do I care to really get to know Him as a person always with me???

Well, I don't know about others but I like talking to Him. He is weird, because He doesn't think like me. As high as the heavens are above the earth are His thoughts above my thoughts, and since He is always with me I kind of like talking to Him. If you think the OP can get you thinking... and I will give the author of the OP some credit for getting me thinking.... then certianly God can get you thinking more and even better right??? And He is always with you, so isn't that the real message we are trying to get out there to people... that they can get to actually know Him, so they don't have to even lean on their own understanding of Him, but instead they can actually talk to Him??

Karl, I may approach this a bit differently than what I'm understanding from you. I think as follows.

When you meet that special one, the one who is going to be the one and only in your life; your love compels you to seek to know every little detail in their life, from babyhood to the 'now'. It is all these things that have formed that love of your life into who they are. It is what separates them from all others, and why they are the ONLY one for you. This is what strengthens the relationship.

While with God we are dealing with One so far above us in every perfection, and He reveals Himself to us through anthropomorphisms, and other accommodations; we do have the Son of Man to bring the relationship closer home. We may not be able to come close to fully knowing God; in Jesus Christ we have the love clearly shown that makes the relationship, in one respect, the Mediator. We learn that we love because he first loved us and gave Himself on the cross for us.

As our significant other is like NO other, our God is like no other that is claiming divinity and the world is full of those idols.

While I've maybe expressed this in a rather clumsy fashion, this is the best way to explain how and why I believe the attributes of God are important, how else do we know Him and have any comprehension of him.

 

[Karl Peters]

Karl, I may approach this a bit differently than what I'm understanding from you. I think as follows.

When you meet that special one, the one who is going to be the one and only in your life; your love compels you to seek to know every little detail in their life, from babyhood to the 'now'. It is all these things that have formed that love of your life into who they are. It is what separates them from all others, and why they are the ONLY one for you. This is what strengthens the relationship.

While with God we are dealing with One so far above us in every perfection, and He reveals Himself to us through anthropomorphisms, and other accommodations; we do have the Son of Man to bring the relationship closer home. We may not be able to come close to fully knowing God; in Jesus Christ we have the love clearly shown that makes the relationship, in one respect, the Mediator. We learn that we love because he first loved us and gave Himself on the cross for us.

As our significant other is like NO other, our God is like no other that is claiming divinity and the world is full of those idols.

While I've maybe expressed this in a rather clumsy fashion, this is the best way to explain how and why I believe the attributes of God are important, how else do we know Him and have any comprehension of him.

Well, I do find your thoughts interesting. However...

For example - I have a wife I married and love. I did want to know about her and enough information to make a wise decision, and to have enough interest in her to have her know I care for her... yet there were and still are things in her life that she has not wanted to make me aware of. It is not wise to just say everything!

Prov 17: 27,28 He who restrains his words has knowledge,
And he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.
Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise;
When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.

So it is not necessary nor even wise to poke into all we can find about someone we love.

And even the Son of God who is one with the Father is not given all information!

Mat 13:32 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

So I dispute your idea that loving a person means finding out all you can about them!!!

Still, because I love my wife I do want to spend time with her and listen to what she has to say!!!!

And that does not involve a study of her!!

So while I have come to know many things about my wife, and I have even meet many of her relatives, I did not do an extensive study to find our all I could about her. That was not needed to love her.

Therefore I find your reasoning faulty. That does not mean it is not worth considering. And one thing that become extremely clear from know Him who also is known as the Teacher, along with God; and that is that He asks me to study the Bible and goes over it with me, and also a lot more than just the Bible. Yet should not He, The Teacher, make the assignments - especially since He is "The Might God" (Is 9:6)

From actually talking to Him and listening to Him, what I have found out is that praying "Thy Will Be Done" and mean it is a smart thing to pray for! But it means actually seeking Him and listening to Him, does it not?

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

 

[Arthur81]

This is my guide on the balance involved -

"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deut 29:29 KJV)

 

[Karl Peters]

This is my guide on the balance involved -

"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deut 29:29 KJV)

That sound pretty good, except for one thing. You wrote "This is my guide", and then a verse!

Is the verse your guide or is Jesus Christ actually guiding you???

I am basically asking like Paul when he wrote:

Gal 3:5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

When I read what you write, that question becomes obvious. I mean - I too might quote the verse, even to add to what I already wrote you:

So it is not necessary nor even wise to poke into all we can find about someone we love.

And even the Son of God who is one with the Father is not given all information!

Mat 13:32 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

To add to that, the verse you quoted:

"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deut 29:29 KJV)

seems to fit perfectly with what I am saying - that there is a need to study as the Teacher asks us to and listen to Him, but He is not going to tell us everything, so we should also be wise with our time and study as He says, right?

But studying as He, The Teacher, asks, like we would if we were taking a course in school, is the right thing to do, where as leaning on our own understanding, even your own understanding of the textbook, the Bible, is not how we get our theology (our study of God) correct!

Now having noted that again, there are a few other comments on the OP I would note:

I like your pointing out the importance of understanding God is spirit!! That is very important and it gets missed all the time!! I can't tell you how many times I have talked to Christian about the Lord telling me something and they respond as if God was using sound waves instead of the small spiritual voice we find in our hearts. That indicates that they don't even understand the God is spirit! So I liked that in the OP.

I also like the part about Him being the "I Am". Another thing (attribute) which is important to understand. So many Christian have heard that God is the "I Am", and even about how Jesus said He would never leave us.... but they still don't understand that means we can ask Him questions and get Him to respond to us and any time!! It is like they read and hear about Him, but they don't really believe what they say they believe. It doesn't make sense to me to say He is always with me but He won't answer my question. Yet they is what they say and honestly seem to believe differently from what they say they believe!!

It is kind of like out current conversation. I would never write, "This is my guide" and then point to a verse because He who is always with me, the Great I Am, is my guide. The verses just back that belief up, right?

I also even like the "God is Eternal", part. It is of course important to understanding He is the creator (another attribute of God) and that He can give me eternal life. Yet honestly, after coming to know Him, I would still like being around Him even if it turned out that He was not going to be around as God much longer. There are people I like to know, walk with, and talk with, so how much more do I like walking and talking with Him? A lot more! So then Him being eternal and giving me eternal like with Him is absolutely fantastic, but I would still want to know Him know even if the other was not the case. He is still that great to know, personally!!

So I agree with the attributes you have about Him! Yet at the same time I feel I need to point out that those are not all His attributes!!! And when talking about having me/us study things and Him going over them with Him; I have to tell you that studying His other attributes and talking to Him about them is equally incredible!!

For example His being "all knowing"/ Omniscient has incredible meaning to us!! If you indeed understand that He is omniscient then you will understand that He knows you better than you know yourself!!!! And that can have alsorts of special meaning to us, if we combine that with the other attributes!!

For example, if you go to the store and understand that God is always with you to be inquired of, and you understand that He knows you better than even you know yourself, would you not then start asking Him what food you should get at the store?? Of course you should, so it is that I talk to Him while shopping at the grocery store, because He is always with me (the I AM), and He knows me better than I do myself!! And since He is spirit, I can always hear from Him inside me, so nobody else can get in my way of hearing Him. And you didn't mention it, but God is love (another attribute) so He even loves me more that I do myself and that too figures into what He has my buy! Ad that is not all!!

God is transcendent and immanent, meaning He exists outside of everything and inside everything - therefore not only does He know what I like, even better than me, He also knows what my wife likes, even better that her!!! So when I go shopping at the store He not only tells me what to get for me, but also for my wife!!!

Alot of Christians read the attributes of God, like "transcendent" and because they don't talk to Him about them they don't understand the significance of them and Him to their lives!!!

Let me give an example:

One day the Lord asked me to go by the store on the way home and get desert, and desert only. I told Him that I didn't think we had much at home for dinner, but He told me just to get the desert, even a pie. So I did and then went home.

I got there to find out that my wife had been told by Him to get dinner, but not desert. So we had a good laugh at how He put it together. Then a week or so later He told me to get dinner but not desert, and sure enough when I got home she had been told by Him to get a desert, but not the dinner.

The point is that He is all that He is, and so to get the benefit of all that He is we need to talk to Him and listen!!

Prov 3:5,6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

So a verse is not my guide and I would not present one as such. He is my Lord and so I present Him as such! And He is an incredible person who is the Word of God and God. It is a pleasure to know Him, at least most of the time. He does put you through things, for your own good of course, but you still go through them. Still, He is worth knowing and would be even if He was not all that He is, but He is!