Basic Theology 6

Chapter 6

THE PERFECTIONS OF GOD

I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERFECTIONS OF GOD

The various perfections of God are not component parts of God. Each describes His total being. Love, for example, is not a part of God’s nature; God in His total being is love. Although God may display one quality or another at a given time, no quality is independent of or preeminent over any of the others. Whenever God displays His wrath, He is still love. When He shows His love, He does not abandon His holiness

II. CATEGORIES OF THE PERFECTIONS OF GOD

Most theologies offer some classification of God’s attributes.

A. Nonmoral (or Natural) and Moral Attributes

The former, like self-existence and infinity, belong to the constitution of God; the latter, like justice and holiness, to His will. But all of the so-called nonmoral qualities are qualities of the most moral Being in the universe, and all the moral attributes are from the nature of God.

B. Absolute and Relative Attributes

Absolute attributes include those that belong to the essence of God as considered in itself (eternity, infinity), and relative attributes belong to the essence of God as considered in relation to His Creation (like omniscience). Again, this is an artificial distinction, since we are unable to make such a determination when, in fact, all of His attributes relate to His Creation.

C. Incommunicable and Communicable Attributes

The former are those that belong only to God (eternity, infinity), whereas the latter are those that are found in a relative or limited degree in people (wisdom, justice). But the communicable attributes are found in people, albeit in a limited way, not because God somehow communicated them, but only because mankind was made in the image of God.

III. CATALOG OF THE PERFECTIONS OF GOD

In alphabetical order, here are fourteen of the perfections of God considered under (a) meaning, (b) scriptural statement(s), and (c) application and/or any problem involved.

A. Eternity

1. Meaning. The attribute of eternity means that God exists endlessly. His existence extends endlessly backward and forward (from our viewpoint of time) without any interruption or limitation caused by succession of events. Putting these ideas together, Berkhof defines eternity as “that perfection of God whereby He is elevated above all temporal limits and all succession of moments, and possesses the whole of His existence in one indivisible present.”

2. Scripture. God’s eternality is reflected in Psalm 90:2, “from everlasting to everlasting,” and in Genesis 21:33, where El Olam, the Everlasting God, comes from an original form that means “the God of eternity.”

3. Question. What is God’s relation to the succession of events? As an eternal Being He sees the past and the future as clearly as the present; further, He must see them as including succession of events, and yet He is in no way bound by that succession. An illustration of this is found in the heavenly scene in Revelation 6:9–11

4. A ramification. A comforting ramification of God’s eternity is the confidence that God has never, nor will He ever, cease to exist; therefore His sustaining, providential control of all things and events is assured.

B. Freedom

1. Meaning. Freedom in God means that He is independent of His creatures and His Creation.

2. Scripture. When Isaiah asked the people who had directed the Lord or taught Him anything or instructed Him, he expected the answer, “no one,” because God is free, that is, independent of His creatures (Isa. 40:13–14).

3. Question. Is God restricted in any way if He is free? Usually the answer states that God is restricted only by His own nature; e.g., His holiness restricts Him from ever sinning. But how can we even use the word restriction in connection with perfection? There can be no restrictions in perfection.

4. An application. Being free, God is not obligated to us in any way unless He chooses to initiate an obligation. He does not have to do anything for us unless He chooses to do so. Consequently, we cannot put Him in our debt.

C. Holiness

1. Meaning. Usually defined negatively and in relation to a relative, not absolute, standard, holiness in the Bible means separation from all that is common or unclean. In respect to God, holiness means not only that He is separate from all that is unclean and evil but also that He is positively pure and thus distinct from all others.

An analogy may help in understanding this concept. What does it mean to be healthy? It is the absence of illness, but also a positive infusion of energy. Holiness is the absence of evil and the presence of positive right. In God, His holiness is a purity of being and nature as well as of will and act.

2. Scripture. Holiness is the attribute by which God wanted to be especially known in Old Testament times (Lev. 11:44; Josh. 24:19; Ps. 99:3, 5, 9; Isa. 40:25; Hab. 1:12). In the New Testament it appears in direct statements (John 17:11; 1 Pet. 1:15), in ascriptions of praise (Rev. 4:8), and in the figure of God being light (1 John 1:5).

3. Applications. The absolute, innate holiness of God means that sinners have to be separated from Him unless a way can be found to constitute them holy. And that way has been provided in the merits of Jesus Christ.

A proper view of the holiness of God should make the believer sensitive to his own sin (Isa. 6:3, 5; Luke 5:8).

The holiness of God becomes the standard for the believer’s life and conduct (1 John 1:7). This should put to an end the often useless discussions over what is permitted and what is not in the Christian life. Proper conduct can be tested by the simple question, Is it holy? This is the believer’s standard. Although he does not always measure up to it, he must never compromise it.

D. Immutability

1. Meaning. Immutability means that God is unchangeable and thus unchanging. This does not mean that He is immobile or inactive, but it does mean that He is never inconsistent or growing or developing.

2. Scripture. Malachi 3:6 and James 1:17 speak of immutability. Notice in the former verse immutability guarantees the preservation of Israel.

3. Problem. If God is immutable, how can it be said that He repents? (Gen. 6:6; Jon. 3:10). If there actually was a change in God Himself, then either He is not immutable or not sovereign or both. Most understand these verses as employing anthropomorphism; i.e., interpreting what is not human in human terms. In the unfolding revelation of God’s plan there seems to be change. However, this can be said to be so only from the human viewpoint, for His eternal plan is unchanging, as is He.

However, the expression may simply mean that God was sorry or grieved, which eliminates any concept of change.

4. Ramifications in relation to God. “If self-existence should change, it would become dependent existence; eternity would become time; perfection imperfection; and therefore God would become not-God.” Immutability assures us that none of God’s perfections change.

5. Ramifications in relation to us. Immutability offers comfort and assurance that God’s promises will not fail (Mal. 3:6; 2 Tim. 2:13). Immutability reminds us that God’s attitudes toward sin, for example, do not change. Therefore, God can never be coaxed or compromised into changing.

E. Infinity

1. Meaning. Infinity means that God has no bounds or limits. He is in no way limited by the universe or by time-space boundaries. But it does not mean that He is somehow spread out through the universe, one part here and another there. “The infinity of God must be conceived as intensive rather than extensive …”

2. Scripture. Solomon acknowledged God’s infinity at the dedication of his temple (1 Kings 8:27), and Paul used this attribute of God to argue against the false deities of the Athenians (Acts 17:24–28).

3. Observation. Sometimes this attribute is labeled immensity. It differs from omnipresence in that it emphasizes the transcendence of God (because He is not bound by space), while omnipresence focuses on the immanence of God (because He is everywhere present).

F. Love

1. Meaning. Like many Christian terms, love is more often discussed than defined. Even the dictionary offers little help. Love consists of affection and also of correction. Babies are cuddled and corrected, and both are true expressions of parental love. Furthermore, both are done by parents in the belief that they are doing the best thing for the child at the time. Love seeks good for the object loved. What is good? In God it is the perfection of holiness and all that that concept implies. Love in God is seeking the highest good and glory of His perfections. This implies no selfishness in God as it would in human beings.

2. Scripture. The Bible directly states that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The absence of the article before “love” (the verse does not say, God is the love) indicates that this is the very nature of God. The presence of the article before “God” (literally, the God is love) shows that the statement is not reversible; it cannot read, “Love is God” (as Christian Science asserts).

3. Applications. Since all the attributes are possessed by each person of the Trinity, there must be some loving interaction (inconceivable to humans, to be sure) within the Trinity.

God who is love allows Himself to love sinful people. That is grace (Eph. 2:4–8).

That love of God has been poured out into the believer’s heart (Rom. 5:5).

In trials God shows His love toward His children (Heb. 12:6).

4. Some related words. Closely related to love are goodness, mercy, long-suffering, and grace. Although distinctions are made, they are not exact. Goodness may be defined as God’s benevolent concern for His creatures (Acts 14:17). Mercy is that aspect of His goodness that causes God to show pity and compassion (Eph. 2:4; James 5:11). Long- suffering speaks of self-restraint in the face of provocation (1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 3:15). Grace is the unmerited favor of God shown to man primarily in the person and work of Jesus Christ. All of these concepts are related and stem from the love of God who is love.

5. A heresy. The heresy of universalism grows out of an unbalanced concept of the attributes of God. It teaches that since God is love He will ultimately save all people. But God’s perfection of love does not operate apart from His other perfections, including holiness and justice. Therefore, love cannot overpower holiness and save those who reject Christ and die in their sins. Furthermore, universalism in reality does not have a proper definition of love, since it sees only the affection aspect of love and not the correcting aspect. Finally, universalism contradicts direct statements of Scripture (see Mark 9:45–48).

G. Omnipotence

1. Meaning. Omnipotence means that God is all-powerful and able to do anything consistent with His own nature. In actuality He has not chosen to do even all the things that would be consistent with Himself for reasons known ultimately only to Himself.

2. Scripture. The word “Almighty” is used only of God in the Bible, occurring fifty-six times, and is the basis for the concept of omnipotence. God revealed Himself as the Almighty One to Abraham (Gen. 17:1), to Moses (Exod. 6:3), to believers (2 Cor. 6:18), and to John several times in the Revelation (1:8; 19:6).

3. A question. Does omnipotence have any limitations? The answer is yes, and in two areas: natural limitations and self-imposed limitations. The natural limitations include the things God cannot do because they are contrary to His nature. He cannot lie (Titus 1:2), He cannot be tempted to sin (James 1:13), He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13). Self-imposed limitations include those things He has not chosen to include in His plan that He might have included as long as they were not contrary to His nature. He did not choose to spare His Son; He did not choose to save all people; He did not choose all nations in Old Testament times; He did not choose Esau; He did not choose to spare James (Acts 12:2). Though He could have done any of these things without being inconsistent with omnipotence, He did not choose to do so in His plan.

Questions like “Can God make 2 + 2 = 6?” do not imply any deficiency in His omnipotence. That particular question is in the realm of arithmetic, not power. One might as well ask if a nuclear explosion could make 2 + 2 = 6. More important, God cannot ever make wrong right.

4. Ramifications. In the past, God’s power was seen in Creation (Ps. 33:9), in preserving all things (Heb. 1:3), and in delivering Israel from Egypt (Ps. 114). But the greatest display of His power was the resurrection of Christ from the dead (2 Cor. 13:4). For the believer, God’s power relates to the Gospel (Rom. 1:16), to his security (1 Pet. 1:5), to his hope of bodily resurrection (1 Cor. 6:14), and to daily living (Eph. 1:19).

H. Omnipresence

1. Meaning. Omnipresence means that God is everywhere present with His whole being at all times.

2. Scripture. In Psalm 139:7–11 David asked the question if there is anyplace one can escape from the presence of God. His answer is no, for His omnipresence is unlimited by space (v. 8), undaunted by speed (v. 9), and unaffected by darkness (vv. 11–12).

3. Some distinctions. As stated in the definition, omnipresence does not mean that God’s being is diffused throughout the universe as if part of Him is here and part of Him there. His whole being is in every place, and the presence of the Lord within every believer serves as a good illustration of this.

Omnipresence does not mean that the immediacy of His presence does not vary. It does. His presence on His throne (Rev. 4:2), in Solomon’s temple (2 Chron. 7:2), or in the believer (Gal. 2:20) certainly differs in its immediacy from His presence in the lake of fire (Rev. 14:10). Though in the lake of fire people will be separated from the face-presence of God (2 Thess. 1:9, prosopon), they will never be separated from Him who is omnipresent (Rev. 14:10, enopion). There is obviously no presence of fellowship (for His face will be turned away from the wicked in the lake of fire) as exists when He indwells believers.

Omnipresence differs from pantheism, which identifies the universe with God. The term was first used by the English deist John Toland (1670–1722) in 1705 when he taught that “God is the mind or soul of the universe.” This heresy fails to distinguish the Creator from the created, a distinction taught in the very first verse of the Bible.

Omnipresence also differs from pantheism as used by process theologians to mean that God’s being penetrates the whole universe yet is not exhausted by the universe. Omnipresence does mean that God is everywhere present but not diffused throughout or penetrating the universe. Furthermore, God is not developing as process theology teaches.

4. Some ramifications. No person can escape the presence of God. This warns unbelievers and comforts believers who, because God is omnipresent, can practice the experience of His presence in every circumstance of life.

I. Omniscience

1. Meaning. Omniscience means that God knows everything, things actual and possible, effortlessly and equally well. A. W. Tozer wrote:

God knows instantly and effortlessly all matter and all matters, all mind and every mind, all spirit and all spirits, all being and every being, all creaturehood and all creatures, every plurality and all pluralities, all law and every law, all relations, all causes, all thoughts, all mysteries, all enigmas, all feeling, all desires, every unuttered secret, all thrones and dominions, all personalities, all things visible and invisible in heaven and in earth, motion, space, time, life, death, good, evil, heaven, and hell.

Because God knows all things perfectly, He knows no thing better than any other thing, but all things equally well. He never discovers anything, He is never surprised, never amazed. He never wonders about anything nor (except when drawing men out for their own good) does He seek information or ask questions.

2. Scripture. God knows all His works from the beginning (Acts 15:18). He numbers and names the stars (Ps. 147:4). Our Lord displayed omniscience when He declared what might have happened in Tyre and Sidon (Matt. 11:21). God knows everything about our lives before we are born (Ps. 139:16).

3. Applications.

a. Omniscience and security. Nothing can ever come to light in the believer’s life that would surprise God and cause Him to cast him out. “No talebearer can inform on us; no enemy can make an accusation stick; no forgotten skeleton can come tumbling out of some hidden closet to abash us and expose our past; no unsuspected weakness in our characters can come to light to turn God away from us, since He knew us utterly before we knew Him and called us to Himself in the full knowledge of everything that was against us.”

b. Omniscience and sensitivity. Every warning God gives comes from an omniscient Being, so we should be extremely sensitive to them. He does not warn us on the basis of only guessing what might happen. He knows.

c. Omniscience and solace. When faced with inexplicable circumstances in life, we invariably take refuge and find solace in the omniscience of God. Not only does He know what actually happened, but He knows what might have happened. He always knows what ultimate good and glory will come from events we cannot understand.

d. Omniscience and sobriety. Sobriety ought to characterize all when they realize that they must stand before an all-knowing God (Heb. 4:13).

J. Righteousness

1. Meaning. Though related to holiness, righteousness is nevertheless a distinct attribute of God. Holiness relates to God’s separateness; righteousness, to His justice. Righteousness has to do with law, morality, and justice. In relation to Himself, God is righteous; i.e., there is no law, either within His own being or of His own making, that is violated by anything in His nature. In relation to His creatures He is also righteous; i.e., there is no action He takes that violates any code of morality or justice. Sometimes these two aspects of righteousness are called absolute (in relation to Himself) and relative (in relation to His Creation).

2. Scripture. God’s absolute righteousness is declared in Psalm 11:7, “For the Lord is righteous” (see also Dan. 9:7). David also declared His relative righteousness (Ps. 19:9; see also Acts 17:31).

K. Simplicity

1. Meaning. The attribute of simplicity means that God is not a composite or compounded being. This has to do with His essence, so that it in no way contradicts the revelation of the Trinity. But this attribute also reminds us that when we consider God as a Triune Being He is not divisible or composed of parts or multiple substances.

2. Scripture. “God is spirit” (John 4:24). By contrast, for example, human beings are spirit and matter. In the Incarnation, of course, our Lord became flesh, but the deity of the God-man was always and only Spirit.

3. Ramifications. The simplicity of God underscores His self-existence (for there was no prior cause to form a composite being), assures us that God will never be anything other than Spirit, and enables us to worship in spirit; i.e., not in material ways

L. Sovereignty

1. Meaning. The word means principal, chief, supreme. It speaks first of position (God is the chief Being in the universe), then of power (God is supreme in power in the universe). How He exercises that power is revealed in the Scriptures. A sovereign could be a dictator (God is not), or a sovereign could abdicate the use of his powers (God has not). Ultimately God is in complete control of all things, though He may choose to let certain events happen according to natural laws that He has ordained.

2. Scripture. God has a plan (Acts 15:18), which is all-inclusive (Eph. 1:11), which He controls (Ps. 135:6), which includes but does not involve Him in evil (Prov. 16:4), and which ultimately is for the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:14).

3. The problem. The sovereignty of God seems to contradict the freedom or actual responsibility of man. But even though it may seem to do so, the perfection of sovereignty is clearly taught in the Scriptures, so it must not be denied because of our inability to reconcile it with freedom or responsibility.

Also, if God is sovereign, how can the creation be so filled with evil? Man was created with genuine freedom, but the exercise of that freedom in rebellion against God introduced sin into the human race. Though God was the Designer of the plan, He was in no way involved in the commission of evil either on the part of Satan originally or of Adam subsequently. Even though God hates sin, for reasons not revealed to us, sin is present by His permission. Sin must be within God’s eternal plan (or God would not be sovereign) in some way in which He is not the author of it (or God could not be holy).

Sovereignty/freedom forms an antinomy (“a contradiction between two apparently equally valid principles or between inferences correctly drawn from such principles”). Antinomies in the Bible, however, consist only of apparent contradictions, not ultimate ones. One can accept the truths of an antinomy and live with them, accepting by faith what cannot be reconciled; or one can try to harmonize the apparent contradictions in an antinomy, which inevitably leads to overemphasizing one truth to the neglect or even denial of the other. Sovereignty must not obliterate free will, and free will must never dilute sovereignty.

M. Truth

1. Meaning. Truth means “agreement to that which is represented” and includes the ideas of veracity, faithfulness, and consistency. To say that God is true is to say, in the most comprehensive sense, that He is consistent with Himself, that He is all that He should be, that He has revealed Himself as He really is, and that He and His revelation are completely reliable.

2. Scripture. God is the only true God (John 17:3), and thus cannot lie (Titus 1:2) and is always reliable (Rom. 3:4; Heb. 6:18).

3. Ramifications. Because God is true, He can do nothing inconsistent with Himself. His promises can never be broken or unfulfilled (see 2 Tim. 2:13), and the Bible, which is His Word, must also be inerrantly true.

N. Unity

1. Meaning. Unity means that there is but one God, who is indivisible.

2. Scripture. The unity of God was a major revelation in the Old Testament as epitomized in the celebrated Shema (from the first word, “Hear,” in Deut. 6:4). The verse may be translated in several ways, including these: “The Lord is our God, the Lord is One,” which emphasizes the unity of God; or “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone,” which stresses the uniqueness of God in contrast to the gods of the heathen. The New Testament, even with its clear revelation of the Trinity, affirms the unity of God (Eph. 4:6; 1 Cor. 8:6; 1 Tim. 2:5). This means that the Persons of the Trinity are not separate essences within the one divine essence. God is One in number and uniqueness.

One important concluding thought about the perfections of God: they describe the only true God who exists. Man creates his own false gods whom he can manipulate and control. Christian people sometimes concoct a perverted or deficient concept of God for the same reason—to be able to manipulate Him or not to have to face up to the true and living God. But the only actual God who exists is the One who is revealed primarily in the Bible and revealed by these attributes or perfections of His being. To be able to know this living and true God requires a miracle of the gracious revelation of Himself. To walk in worship with that living and true God is the privilege of all who know Him.