1. Independence – God’s independence is defined as follows: God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify God and bring Him joy. This attribute is sometimes called God’s self-existence or God’s aseity (from the Latin words a se, which mean “from himself”).
24 "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things; (Act 17:24-25 NAS)
11 "Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine. (Job 41:11 NAS)
Some have entertained the thought that God created humanity because He was lonely and needed fellowship with other persons. If this were true, it would mean that God would not be completely independent of creation.
5 "And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. (Joh 17:5 NAS)
24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world. (Joh 17:24 NAS)
Truly, the three Persons of the Godhead were independent and in perfect unity in all eternity past without mankind or the rest of creation.
2. Unchangeableness – We can define the unchangeableness of God as follows: God is unchanging in His being, perfections, purposes and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions, and He acts and feels differently in response to different situations. This attribute of God’s is also called immutability.
25 "Of old Thou didst found the earth; And the heavens are the work of Thy hands. 26 "Even they will perish, but Thou dost endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing Thou wilt change them, and they will be changed. 27 "But Thou art the same, And Thy years will not come to an end. (Psa 102:25-27 NAS)
6 "For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. (Mal 3:6 NAS)
17 Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. (Jam 1:17 NAS)
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever. (Heb 13:8 NAS)
Thus, God is immutable. He does not change.
A. Does God Sometimes Change His Mind? Even as we talk about God being unchanging in His purposes, we may wonder about instances in Scripture where God said He would judge His people and then, because of prayer or the people’s repentance (or both), God relented and did not bring judgment as He said He would.
9 And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. 10 "Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them, and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation." 11 Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why doth Thine anger burn against Thy people whom Thou hast brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 "Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, 'With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth '? Turn from Thy burning anger and change Thy mind about doing harm to Thy people. 13 "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants to whom Thou didst swear by Thyself, and didst say to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'" 14 So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people. (Exo 32:9-14 NAS)
Didn’t God’s purpose change in this situation? We must understand that this instance and many others in Scripture (Isaiah 38:1-6; Jonah 3:4,10; Genesis 6:6; 1 Samuel 15:10; etc.), express God’s true attitude or intention to act with respect to the situation as it exists at that moment. If the situation changes, then God’s attitude or expression will also change. God responds differently to different situations, but He does not change.
One more example:
5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. (Gen 6:5-6 NAS)
God is grieved in His heart because of the present state of man’s sinfulness instead of the state of perfect sinlessness in which they were created. This is an expression of God’s present displeasure toward man’s sinfulness.
3. Eternity – God’s eternity may be defined as follows: God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in His own being, and He sees all time equally vividly, yet God sees events in time and acts in time. This doctrine is also referred to as God’s infinity. This doctrine is related to God’s immutability (unchangeableness) because since God is unchangeable, time cannot change God. Time has no effect on God’s being, purposes, or promises. God never learns new things or forgets things. He is eternal and has perfect knowledge of all that is (past, present, and future).
A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born, Or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. 3 Thou dost turn man back into dust, And dost say, "Return, O children of men." 4 For a thousand years in Thy sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night. (Psa 90:1-4 NAS)
26 "Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him; The number of His years is unsearchable. (Job 36:26 NAS)
Consider the enormity of this truth. The God in Whom we trust sees the creation of the universe, the ministry of His only Son upon the earth, this very moment that we are here together, the final judgment of man, and eternity with perfect clarity because it is all present before Him right now.
9 "Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure'; (Isa 46:9-10 NAS)
4. Omnipresence – Just as God is unlimited or infinite with respect to time, God is also unlimited with respect to space. God’s omnipresence may be defined as follows: God does not have size or spatial dimensions and is present at every point of space with His whole being, yet God acts differently in different places.
King David beautifully describes the omniscience of God in Psalm 139.
7 Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Thy hand will lead me, And Thy right hand will lay hold of me. (Psa 139:7-10 NAS)
A. God Does Not Have Spatial Dimensions. Even though God’s whole being is present in every part of space, or at every point in space, it is necessary to note that God cannot be contained by any space.
27 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have built! (1Ki 8:27 NAS)
1Thus says the LORD, "Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? (Isa 66:1 NAS)
We must guard against thinking that God extends infinitely far in all directions so that He himself exists infinitely in a sort of infinite, unending space. Nor should we think that God is somehow a bigger area surrounding the space of the universe as we know it. These ideas continue to think of God in spatial terms as if He were simply an extremely large being. God does not have size or spatial dimensions. God exists without size or dimensions in space.
B. God Can Be Present to Punish, Sustain, or Bless. The idea of God’s omnipresence can often trouble people when they think of God being present in Hell. Isn’t Hell the opposite of the presence of God? We can resolve our difficulty in understanding when we that God is present in different ways in different places.
1. Sometimes God is present to punish. A terrifying passage in Amos vividly portrays this presence of God in judgment.
1I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said, "Smite the capitals so that the thresholds will shake, And break them on the heads of them all! Then I will slay the rest of them with the sword; They will not have a fugitive who will flee, Or a refugee who will escape. 2 "Though they dig into Sheol, From there shall My hand take them; And though they ascend to heaven, From there will I bring them down. 3 "And though they hide on the summit of Carmel, I will search them out and take them from there; And though they conceal themselves from My sight on the floor of the sea, From there I will command the serpent and it will bite them. 4 "And though they go into captivity before their enemies, From there I will command the sword (Amos 9:1-4 NAS)
Sometimes God is present to sustain.
16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created by Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (Col 1:16-17 NAS)
3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power . . . (Heb 1:3 NAS)
But at most other times, God is present to bless.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, 4 and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." (Rev 21:3-4 NAS)
Thus, God is omnipresent to punish sinners, to sustain His creation, and to bless His people.
5. Unity – The unity of God can be defined as follows: God is not divided into parts, yet we see different attributes of God emphasized at different times. Whenever Scripture speaks of the attributes of God it never singles out one attribute as more important than all the rest. The Word of God tells us that “God is light” (1 John 1:5) and then a little later tells us that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). There is no indication to say that one part of God is love and another part of God is light, or that God is partly love and partly light. Rather, it is God himself Who is light and it is God himself Who is also love.
6 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; (Exo 34:6 NAS)
But we should not think of God as some kind of collection of His many attributes. Neither is God added to by these attributes. God is self-existent and His attributes flow out from His whole being. Thus, when we speak of the unity of God, we should seek to know and love Him as himself in all of the ways that He has revealed himself in His Word.
B. The Communicable Attributes of God – This is a long list of the attributes of God that are either true of us or are to be imitated in our lives as we follow Jesus Christ. We will classify these attributes into five basic categories: attributes describing God’s being, mental attributes, moral attributes, attributes of purpose, and finally some summary attributes.
1. Spirituality (Attribute of Being) – People have often asked if God is material in His form (other than Jesus Christ in His Incarnation), or if He is made of some other form of matter, or if God is pure energy, or is He in some sense pure thought? The answer to all of these queries is no. God is spirit (John 4:24).
Again, God’s being cannot be thought of in terms of spatial parameters because He has none. God even forbids anyone from thinking of Him in terms of being similar to anything else in creation.
4"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, (Exo 20:4-5 NAS)
God’s essence, His mode of being, is different from anything that He has created. At this point we can define God’s spirituality as follows: God’s spirituality means that God exists as a being that is not made of any matter, has no parts or dimensions, is unable to be perceived by our bodily senses, and is more excellent in His perfections than any other kind of existence.
At this point we may wonder why this attribute is listed as a communicable attribute. It is because even though God’s spirituality is very different from ours, He has given each of us a spirit that we might worship Him,
24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (Joh 4:24 NAS)
that we might unite with Him,
17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (1Co 6:17 NAS)
and to our spirits God’s Spirit bears witness that we are His children.
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (Rom 8:16 NAS)
2. Knowledge (Mental Attribute) – This may also be referred to as omniscience. We may define God’s knowledge as follows: God fully knows himself and all things actual and possible in one simple and eternal act. This knowledge of God means that even though He is infinite, God knows himself completely.
The above definition says that God knows “all things actual” meaning all things that exist and all things that happen.
13And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. (Heb 4:13 NAS)
24 "For He looks to the ends of the earth, And sees everything under the heavens. (Job 28:24 NAS)
The above definition also states that God knows all things possible. Jesus also speaks of what would have happened if certain circumstances had occurred.
21"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (Mat 11:21 NAS)
23"And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. (Mat 11:23 NAS)
Whether actual or possible, whether past, present, or future, God knows all things. This is indeed an amazing truth.
What if someone objects by protesting that God promises to remember our sins no more (Isaiah 43:25)? Isn’t this an example of God not having complete knowledge? No. A better way to understand this is that God, having complete knowledge of our sin but having forgiven us in Jesus Christ, will never again allow His knowledge of our sin to play any part in the way that He relates to us. Thus, God is omniscient and still remembers our sin no more.
How then is knowledge a communicable attribute of God? God gives us, even as finite beings, the ability to have knowledge of Him as revealed through His Word, as well as knowledge of the creation and our relationship to Him as sinners and as children of God. So, knowledge is a communicable attribute.
3. Wisdom (Mental Attribute) – We can define the wisdom of God as follows: God’s wisdom means that God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals. In other words, because of His wisdom, God always chooses and does what is best. The cross is the supreme example of this truth.
21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. (1Co 1:21 NAS)
The greatest of the world’s wisdom cannot attain to the wisdom of God.
27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,
Only God has true wisdom and so man’s wisdom is nothing before God.
29 that no man should boast before God.
How is the wisdom of God a communicable attribute to men? The wisdom of God allows us to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ that we might be redeemed, be made righteous, and be sanctified for the glory of the Lord.
30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 that, just as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord." (1Co 1:30-31 NAS)
4. Truthfulness (Mental Attribute) – God’s truthfulness means that He is the true God and that all His knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth. Another word for God’s truthfulness is veracity.
Since God is the only true God, all other gods are false.
10 But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation. 11 Thus you shall say to them, "The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens." (Jer 10:10-11 NAS)
It is in truth that God reveals that He himself is the only way of salvation.
3"And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. (Joh 17:3 NAS)
20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. (1Jo 5:20 NAS)
The very words of God are truth. His words are reliable.
19 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Num 23:19 NAS)
How is God’s truthfulness a communicable attribute? We should imitate God’s truthfulness.
16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Exo 20:16 NAS)
5 A righteous man hates falsehood . . .” (Pro 13:5 NAS)
17 'Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,' declares the LORD." (Zec 8:17 NAS)
(Source: Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Zondervan. Grand Rapids. 2000. 1291 pp. $30.99)
