THE NATURE AND ATTRIBUTES OF
GOD
T.P. Simmons
We are ready now to find out from the Scriptures the mode of God's
being.
Two expressions will suffice to indicate the nature of God.
1. GOD IS A SPIRIT.
We have these exact words from the mouth of Jesus in John 4:24.
This statement means that God is purely, wholly, and only a spirit. A spirit
may inhabit a body, but a pure spirit does not have or regularly inhabit a
body; for Jesus said again after His resurrection: "A spirit hath not
flesh and bones as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39). Consequently, man is
never spoken of as being a spirit while he inhabits the
body. He is said to possess a spirit, but, when his composite nature is
described, he is said to be a "living soul" (Gen. 2:7; 1 Cor. 15:45)
rather than a spirit.
We also know that God is a pure spirit, not possessing or
inhabiting a body, because of His invisibility (Col. 1:15; 1 Tim. 1:17; Heb. 11:27) and because of His omnipresence.
This brings us to consider those passages of Scripture that
ascribe to God such bodily parts as eyes and ears, and hands and feet. In view
of what has been said already, it is plain that these passages are to be taken
in a figurative and symbolic sense. Such representations are known theologically
as anthropomorphisms.
Robert Young, author of "Analytical Concordance to the
Bible," says: "Human feelings, actions, and parts are ascribed to
God, not that they are really in Him, but because such effects proceed from Him
as are like those that flow from such things in men."
On the other hand, there are other passages that are explained by
A. H. Strong as follows: "When God is spoken of as appearing to the
patriarchs and walking with them, the passages are to be explained as referring
to God's temporary manifestations of Himself in human form-manifestations which
prefigured the final tabernacling of the Son of God in human flesh"
(Systematic Theology, p. 120).
The personality of God is involved in His spirituality, and hence
is not treated as a separate characteristic.
By the statement that God is one, we mean to affirm His unity in
the full sense of that term. We mean that there is but one God, and we also
mean that His essence is homogeneous, undivided, and indivisible.
That there is but one God is taught by Deut. 6:4; Isa. 44:6; John
17:3; 1 Cor. 8:4; 1 Tim. 1:17. And it is irrational, moreover, to assume the
existence of a plurality of gods, when one will explain all the facts. Also the
passages which represent God as infinite and perfect (cf. Psa. 145:3; Job
11:7-9; Matt. 5:48) are indirect proofs of His unity; for infinity and absolute
perfection are possible to only one. Two such beings could
not exist for each would limit the other.
That the essence of God is homogeneous, undivided, and indivisible
is a necessary inference from the fact that He is a pure spirit. All that we
know about spirit compels us to believe its essence to be simple and uncompounded.
J. P. Boyce gives the following three reasons for affirming the
unity of God in the sense that we are now discussing it:
"1. Because composition (or a putting
together) involves possibility of separation. But this would involve
destructibility, and changeableness, each of which is inconsistent with
absolute perfection and necessary existence.
"2. Composition involves a time of separate existence of the
parts compounded." And this would necessitate a time when the parts existed separately, and, therefore, a time when God did
not exist, or, "when He existed imperfectly, having not yet received to
his essential nature the additions subsequently made; all of which is
inconsistent with absolute perfection and necessary existence.
"3. If the parts have been compounded, it
has been done by some force from without, or has been a growth in His nature."
And both of these ideas are "inconsistent with absolute perfection and
necessary existence."
However the unity of God does not preclude His trinity, and His
trinity is in no way inconsistent with His unity. The trinity,
as we shall see more clearly later, consists of three eternal distinctions in
the same being and in the same pure essence, which distinctions are presented
to us under the figure of persons.
II. THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
"The term 'attribute,'" says J. M. Pendleton, "in
its application to persons or things, means something belonging to persons or
things. The attributes of a thing are so essential to it that without them it
could not be what it is; and that is equally true of the attributes of a
person. If a man were divested of the attributes belonging to him, he would
cease to be a man, for these attributes are inherent in that which
constitutes him a human being. If we transfer these ideas to God, we shall find
that His attributes belong inalienably to Him, and, therefore, what He is He
must ever be. His attributes are His perfections, inseparable from His nature
and constituting His character" (Christian Doctrines, p. 42).
J. P. Boyce says: "The attributes of God
are those peculiarities which mark or define the mode of His existence, or
which constitute His character. They are not separate or separable from His
essence or nature, and yet are not that essence, but simply have ground or
cause of their existence in it, and are at the same time the peculiarities
which constitute the mode and character of His being" (Abstract of
Systematic Theology, p. 65).
"The attributes of God," as defined by A@ H. Strong,
"are those distinguishing characteristics of the divine nature which are
inseparable from the idea of God and which constitute the basis and ground for
His various manifestations to His creatures. We call them attributes, because
we are compelled to attribute them to God as fundamental qualities or powers of
His being, in order to give rational account of certain
constant facts in God's self-revelations" (Systematic Theology, p. 115).
It is common to divide the attributes of God into two classes.
This aids both memory and understanding. To these divisions various pairs of
names have been given, such as communicable and incommunicable;
immanent and transient; positive and negative; natural and moral; absolute and
relative. The two latter classifications have been adopted for these studies.
1. ABSOLUTE ATTRIBUTES.
The absolute attributes of God are those that have respect to His
being independent of His relationship to anything else.
(1) Self-existence.
God's being is underived. His is a self-caused existence. His
existence is independent of everything else. The self-existence of God is
implied in the name "Jehovah," which means "the existing
one," and also in the expression "I am that I am" (Ex. 3:14),
which signifies that it is God's nature to be.
The eternity of God, which falls in the second class of attributes,
also implies His self-existence. If God has existed forever, then His existence
is a necessary, underived, self-caused existence. Self-existence is a mystery
that is incomprehensible to man; yet a denial of it would involve us in a
greater mystery. If there is not in the universe some self-existent person or
thing, then the present order of things came into existence
out of nothing without cause or Creator. They could not have been the product
of mere energy, for energy is the property either of matter or of life. And
since science has proved that matter is not eternal, we are left to assume an
eternal, and therefore, a self-existent person as an explanation of the present
order of things.
(2) Immutability.
Note the following statements:
"By immutability we define God as
unchangeable in His nature and purposes" (E. Y. Mullins, The Christian
Religion in its Doctrinal Expression, pp. 223, 224).
"By the immutability of God is meant that He is incapable of
change, either in duration of life, or in nature, character, will, or
happiness. In none of these, nor in any other respect, is there any possibility
of change" (J. P. Boyce, Abstract of Systematic
Theology p. 73).
Immutability is implied in infinity and perfection. Any change,
either for the better or for the worse, implies either prior or subsequent
imperfection and finiteness.
The principal passages teaching the general
immutability of God are: Psa. 102:27; Mal. 3:6; Jas. 1:17.
The following passages teach specifically the immutability of
God's will: Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Job 23:18; Psa. 33:11; Prov. 19:21; Isa.
46:10; Heb. 6:17.
The foregoing passages give us positive and absolute declarations.
All passages that represent God as repenting, such as Gen. 6:6,7; Ex. 32:14; 1
Sam. 15:11; Psa. 106:45; Amos 7:3; Jonah 8:10; and those that seem in any way
to imply or suggest any change in the purposes of God, must be explained in the
light of them. These latter passages contain anthropomorphisms.
Commenting on Ex. 32:14, A. W. Pink says: "These words do not
mean that God changed His mind or altered His purpose, for He is 'without
variableness or shadow of turning' (Jas. 1:17). There never has been and never
will be the smallest occasion for the Almighty to effect the slightest
deviation from His eternal purpose, for everything was foreknown to Him from
the beginning, and all His counsels were ordained by
infinite wisdom. When the Scripture speaks of God's repenting, it employs a
figure of speech, in which the Most High condescends to speak in our language.
What is intended by the above expression is that Jehovah answered the prayer of
a typical mediator."
And in regard to such passages, J. P. Boyce
says: "It may be stated that these are merely anthropopathic expressions,
intended simply to impress upon men His great anger at sin, and His warm
approbation of the repentance of those who had sinned against Him. The change
of conduct, in men, not in God, had changed the relation between them and God.
Sin had made them liable to His just displeasure. Repentance had brought them
within the possibilities of His mercy. Had He not treated them
differently, then there would have been a change in Him. His very
unchangeableness makes it necessary that He shall treat differently those who
are innocent and those who are guilty, those who harden themselves against Him
and those who turn toward Him for mercy, with repentant hearts" (Abstract
of Systematic Theology, p. 76).
We must in like manner understand all allusions which seem to
indicate a succession of emotions in God. All emotions in God exist alongside
each other at the same moment, and have done so from all eternity. He has been
always pleased with righteousness and displeased with sin. And He has from all
eternity known of all righteousness and sin. Sin exposes man to God's
displeasure. Righteous subjects him to God's pleasure.
Passing from God's displeasure to His pleasure is brought about by a change in
man and not in God. The sun melts wax. But if the wax could be changed to clay,
the sun would harden it. Would that represent any change whatsoever in the sun?
Prayer does not change God. It changes us and
the things and circumstances with which we have to do; but it does not change
God. We shall never have the right attitude toward God so long as we think of
prayer as a means of getting God to do things that He did not intend to do. So
far from prayer changing the will of God, we must pray according to His will if
we expect to get an answer. John tells us: "This is the confidence that we
have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us" (1 John 5:14). It is the Holy Spirit that
causes us to pray (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6), and it is to the Holy Spirit that we
should look for leadership in the things we pray for (Rom. 8:26). Prayer, then,
is the work of God in our hearts getting us ready for the most profitable use
and grateful enjoyment of His blessings. It is His own key, with which He
unlocks the flood-gates of the river of His blessings. In God's wise counsels
before the foundation of the earth He ordained prayer as
one of the means for the accomplishment of His will. Prayer no more changes God
than the faith of the repentant sinner changes God. Both are simply means in
the working out of God's eternal and immutable purpose.
The holiness of God is His perfect moral and spiritual excellence.
God is perfectly pure, sinless, and righteous in Himself. Holiness is the
ground of all other moral attributes in God. The holiness of God was typified
by the immaculate dress of the High Priest when he entered the Holy of Holies.
R. A. Torrey says: "The entire Mosiac system of washings;
divisions of the tabernacle; divisions of the people into ordinary Israelites,
Levites, Priests, and High Priests, who were permitted different degrees of
approach to God, under strictly defined conditions; the insisting upon
sacrifices as a necessary medium of approach to God; God's
directions to Moses in Ex. 3:5, to Joshua in Josh. 5:15, the punishment of
Uzziah in 2 Chron. 26:16-21, the strict orders to Israel in regard to
approaching Sinai when Moses was talking with God- these were intended to
teach, emphasize, and burn into the minds and hearts of the Israelites the
fundamental truth that God is holy, unapproachably holy. The truth that God is
holy is the fundamental truth of the Bible, of the Old
Testament and the New Testament, of the Jewish religion and the Christian
religion" (What The Bible Teaches, p. 37).
The following passages of Scripture are the principal ones that
declare the holiness of God: Josh. 24:19; Psa. 22:3; 99:9; Isa. 5:16; 6:3; John
17:11; 1 Pet. 1:15,16.
The holiness of God causes Him to abhor sin, and, therefore, gives
rise to His justice, which we shall consider under relative attributes.
2. RELATIVE ATTRIBUTES.
The relative attributes of God are those that are seen because of
God's connection with time and creation.
(1) This means that God had no beginning and that He can have no
end. It also means that He is in no way limited or conditioned by
time. A. H. Strong says: "God is not in time. It is more correct to say
that time is in God. Although there is logical succession in God's thoughts,
there is no chronological succession" (Systematic Theology, p. 130).
God sees events as taking place in time, but from all eternity
those events have been the same to Him as after they have taken place. Eternity has been described as follows: "Eternity is
not, as men believe, before and after us, an endless line. No, 'tis a circle,
infinitely great--all the circumference with creation thronged; God at the
center dwells, beholding all. And as we move in this eternal round, the finite
portion which alone we see, behind us is the past; what lies before we call the
future. But to Him who dwells far at the center, equally remote from every
point of the circumference, both are alike, the future and
the past" (Murphy, Scientific Basis, p. 90).
(2) Omnipresence.
By the omnipresence of God is meant that God
is present at the same moment throughout His creation.
The omnipresence of God is beautifully and strikingly declared in
Psa. 139:7-10 and in Jer. 23:23,24.
Those passages that speak of God as being present in special
places are to be understood as referring to God's special and transcending
manifestations. Thus He is spoken of as dwelling in Heaven, because it is there
that He makes the greatest manifestation of His presence.
From all eternity God has possessed all knowledge and wisdom. John
declares that God "knoweth all things" (1 John 3:20). God's omniscience may be argued from His infinity.
Everywhere in the Bible He is pictured as an infinite being. Thus His knowledge
must he infinite. Omniscience may also be argued from
immutability. If God changes not, as the Scripture declares, then He must have
possessed all knowledge from the beginning; for otherwise He would be learning
all the while, and that would of itself constitute a change in Him and would
necessarily lead to even more manifest changes.
Moreover, the necessity of omniscience on the
part of God may be seen from Eph. 1:11, which says that God "worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will." Only an omniscient being could
work all things after the counsel of his own will.
It will be seen from the foregoing discussion that God's
omniscience includes perfect foreknowledge. From eternity God has
known all things that have come to pass and all things that shall yet come to
pass. Moreover He foreknew from eternity all things that would have come to
pass if He had not prevented them. He has ever known exactly what things would
have come to pass if His immutable purpose had been different from what it is
at any point.
The basis of God's foreknowledge of all things
that come to pass is His own purpose. God could not have known that a thing
would come to pass unless it had been certain to come to pass. God's eternal,
immutable purpose is the only scriptural basis for the certainty of future
events.
As to the manner in which God knows all
things, perhaps we cannot do better than to take a brief quotation from J. J.
Rousseau, as found in a "A Savoyard Vicar" (Harvard Classics, Vol.
34, p. 267): "God is intelligent; but in what manner? Man is intelligent
by the act of reasoning, but the supreme intelligence lies under no necessity
to reason. He requires neither premise nor consequences; nor even the simple
form of a proposition. His knowledge is purely intuitive. He beholds equally what is and what will be. All truths are to Him as one idea,
as all places are but one point, and all times one moment."
(4) Omnipotence.
God possesses all power. In Gen. 17:1 God
declares: "I am God Almighty." The title "Almighty" is
applied to Him over and over in the Scripture. This title signifies that He
possesses all might or power. Again we read in Matt. 19:26: "With God all
things are possible." Many other passages declare God's omnipotence.
The omnipotence of God does not mean, of
course, that He can do things that are logically absurd or things that are
against His will. He cannot lie, because the holiness of His character prevents
Him from willing to lie. And He cannot create a rock larger than He can lift;
nor both an irresistible power and an immovable object; nor can He draw a line
between two points shorter than a straight one; nor put two mountains adjacent
to one another without creating a valley between them. He cannot
do any of these things because they are not objects of power. They are
self-contradictory and logically absurd. They would violate the laws that God
has ordained, and thus cause God to cross Himself.
(5) Veracity.
By the veracity of God is meant His truthfulness and faithfulness
in His revelation to and dealings with His creatures in general and His
redeemed people in particular.
Some of the passages setting forth the veracity of God are: John 9:33;
Rom. 1:25; 3:4; 1 Cor. 1:9; 2 Cor. 1:20; 1 Thess. 5:24; Titus
1:2; Heb. 6:18; 1 Pet. 4:19.
(6) Love.
Love is used in different senses in the Bible when attributed to
God in His dealings with His creatures. Sometimes it refers to mere goodness in bestowing natural benefits upon all men (Psa.
145:9; Matt. 18:33; Luke 6:35; Matt. 5:44,45). God's redeeming love, on the
other hand, is sovereign, discriminating, and particular. He says: "Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have a hated" (Rom. 9:13). And of God it is
emphatically declared: "Thou hatest all workers of iniquity" (Psa.
5:5).
(7) Justice.
The justice of God is taught in Gen. 18:25; Deut. 32:4; Psa.
7:9-12; 18:24; Rom. 2:6.
It was the justice of God that made it
necessary for Christ to die in order that men might be saved. The justice of
God makes it impossible for God to let sin go unpunished. The death of Christ
made it possible for Him to be just and yet the justifier of believing sinners.
(Rom. 3:26).
In the sacrifice of Jesus the Scripture was
fulfilled which says: "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and
peace have kissed each other (Psa. 85:10).
The salvation of believers is an act of grace toward them; yet it
is an act of justice to Jesus Christ who died in the stead of all who will ever
believe.