SCOPE OF ATTRIBUTES - INTRO

THE SCOPE OF THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

 

 

In the opening article, it was the purpose of the writer to set forth the place of God in the Scriptures. Within the limitations of one article, this could be done only in brief. But in that brevity there was this value, that it focused attention upon the lofty, immeasurable, incomparable perfection of the one and only God. The purpose of that article was to lay the foundation for a closer scrutiny of the distinctive nature of God. Now, more particularly, this article will examine in broad perspective the attributes of God.

The term "attribute" is intended to mean the property, the quality, and the characteristic of a person or thing. In reference to God, the term "attri­butes" points to what God is. Attributes answer the question of what God is like in nature, in essence, and in substance, that which is His peculiar possession in distinction from all other persons or things. In the strictest sense of the word, "God is spirit" (John 4:24 NASB), that is, in the sense of defining His substance, and His attributes are the various aspects of spirit.

All that God is like is not discovered by a study of those attributes that are specifically declared of Him in the Bible. This pointed statement is therefore in order: the Bible not only sets forth characteristics of nature in His possession, but it also displays characteristics of nature in performance. However, for the study to which this article is limited, the emphasis will be laid on possession, and only an occasional reference will be made to performance. This article is primarily concerned with what God is, and not what God does. For all that God does must issue from what God is.

In this particular article the broad scope of the attributes will be treated. The reason for approaching the study in this fashion is to give the reader a picture of God in completeness, before examining the attributes in minute detail. This will enable the reader to see how each attribute fits into the picture as a whole, with the end result that this will safeguard him from confusion. Later in the articles, each attribute will be taken up specifically and dealt with in more detail.

In general, so far as this study is concerned, it is fair to say that there are six great classes of attributes. These may be stated as follows:

1.     God is personality: that is, He is spirit, living, intelligent, pur­posive, active, free, self-conscious, emotional.

2.     God is unity: that is, He is one in nature, essence, and substance.

3.     God is greatness: that is, He is self-existent, eternal, unchangeable, omnipresent, ominiscient, omnipotent, perfect, infinite, incomprehen­sible.

4.     God is goodness: that is, He is holy, true, love, righteous, faithful, merciful.

5.     God is Christ-likeness: that is, completely and perfectly, He is like Christ.

6.     God is tri-unity: that is, God is three equal persons subsisting in one

essence.

An effort will now be made to bring each one of these six main areas into a more clear view.