SCOPE OF ATTRIBUTES - 1

SCOPE OF ATTRIBUTES - GOD IS PERSONAL BEING

 

 

God is personal being. By this terminology it is affirmed that He is personal in the infinite sense in which man is personal in the finite sense, for man was created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26-27). However, the identification of the elements or characteristics which combine to produce what is designated as personal is not easy. Most men define a person as a moral and rational creature who possesses self-consciousness and self-determination. This is true of God, and it is true in an infinite and incomprehensible sense. Whatever is observed as being true in man, that distinguishes him as a person, should not be made the complete standard by which the personality of God is measured.

The very first verse in the Bible makes it clear that God is an uncreated personality. For in the beginning God already was existing (Gen. 1:1). All other personalities are creations. They are of necessity finite creations, and at best, only mere shadows of the infinite personality. There are resemblances in the finite of the infinite, but even in the largest sense they are only faint resem­blances. It is therefore correct to say that the personality of God is arche­typical, that is, primal and inherent, while the personality of man is derived from God. The personality of man is not identical with the personality of God, but it does contain faint traces of similarity.

It is most important to recognize that the personality of God is differentiated from material creation. Even though God created personal beings with whom He shares traces of similarity, God is completely distinguished from material and impersonal creation. Since He existed before matter, He cannot be identified as matter. He is not impersonal stuff. He is therefore not in any sense to be identified with the material universe. The philosophy of pantheism, which declares that all is God and God is all, is false. God is not the sun, or the moon, or the stars, or the earth, or any other item or aspect of material creation.

The fact of personality in God makes it possible for man to enter into a fellowship with God and worship Him. In this respect there is an essential affi­nity of man with God. Inasmuch as spirit is the essential substance of person­ality, it was upon the basis of this fact that Christ said to the Samaritan woman, "God is spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24 NASB). Men can approach this infinite personality and experience response. "I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill" (Psa. 3:4). The whole 34th Psalm describes the interaction of a finite per­son with an infinite person, all of this made possible because of the similarity of the characteristic called personality.