Transcript The Attributes of God - South OC - The Bubble

Theology Proper - God
Systematic Theology
Pastor Brett Peterson
Who is God?
• Theology proper is a glimpse at God the
Father
• Describe God the Father….
First Assumption – God never
changes…
• Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and
today and forever.
• Covenant: The only difference between the
Old and New covenant is the blood of
Christ! Both have salvation through faith,
blood sacrifice, changed behavior, and
relationship.
• James 2:23,24; Matt.5:17-24
• 2Co 3:6 who also made us adequate as servants of a
new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for
the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
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Pastor Brett Peterson, CCBCU.EDU
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A CLASSICAL APPROACH
•
We begin with the God of the Bible
• The same God of the Old covenant and the New – physical vs. spiritual
• We know him because he has made Himself known
•
We trust his Revelation
• “Scriptural authority comes from God. In its total extent and in all its
parts Scripture is the inspired, and thus also the authoritative Word of
God. What Paul says, God says.” Spykman, Reformational Theology,
123
• Reason is subordinated to Scripture, yet faith is reasonable.
• We do not begin with any a-priori concepts regarding the nature of God
or his method of dealing with his creatures
• This avoids the problems of blind believism – it gives us a system that is
empirically determined through the study of God’s Word.
• True theology is not the product of philosophical speculation, it is the
absolute truth revealed by a personal God.
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Pastor Brett Peterson, CCBCU.EDU
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THE ANTITHESIS- SATAN
• Concept offered by Dutch Calvinists
• It seeks to provide a way of viewing the entire cosmos as
belonging to God
• But, short of the heaven, all creation is under siege by the
forces of evil
• The antithesis is critical to all theological enterprise
• It runs through every part of the created order
• It affects every issue arising in creation
• It reminds us of the danger of relying upon only reason.
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THE ANTITHESIS
• “The antithesis represents a spiritual warfare between good
and evil which knows no territorial boundaries. It is not
geographically, locally, or spatially definable. The enmity
between these two hostile forces does not coincide with two
parts of reality, as though one sector of life were holy and the
other unholy, or one bloc righteous and the other unrighteous.
It is a directional antithesis which runs through all the
structures of life. Sin is totally pervasive. Grace, too, lays its
claim on all reality. The antithesis may therefore not be
dualistically misconstrued as though it drives a wedge between
soul and body, faith and reason, theology and philosophy,
church and world- with the former viewed as good and the
latter as evil.” Spykman, Reformational Theology, 66
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Pastor Brett Peterson, CCBCU.EDU
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REVELATI0N AND REASON
• Scientific Investigation employs Logic, the use of
Reason: Induction and Deduction
• Scientific Investigation employs the use of the senses,
perception
• Reason and the Senses are both employed to discover
absolute truth
• Both have validity, enabling us to analyze the data of
creation, to think and ponder its implications
• Ultimately, revelation is reasonable
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Pastor Brett Peterson, CCBCU.EDU
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THEOLOGY AS SCIENCE:
• It is a Practical Science; it has more than mere
Ontology (existence)
• Theology has Teleology; it has purpose and
direction
• The end of theological inquiry is not merely
mental equilibrium – a stagnate state of existance
• The goal of scientific inquiry is knowledge that
must produce a response and a transformation.
• Theology is more than philosophical
ascension – it is experienced in all we do!
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Pastor Brett Peterson, CCBCU.EDU
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THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY:
• The relationship is as follows:
• Philosophy is merely a mental exercise
• Theology is both mental and spiritual
• Philosophy is human understanding
• Theology is God’s revelation imparted to
human understanding
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Pastor Brett Peterson, CCBCU.EDU
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The Attributes of God
1. A quality or characteristic
inherent in or ascribed to
someone or something.
What Are Attributes?
• Qualities of the entire Godhead - not just
one Person of the Trinity
• Permanent - will not change over time
• Intrinsic - cannot be gained nor lost
Inseparable from God’s being, essence and
existence
• NOTE: Jesus gave up His divine attributes
when He became a man:
• Joh 5:18 For this reason therefore the Jews
were seeking all the more to kill Him,
because He not only was breaking the
Sabbath, but also was calling God His own
Father, making Himself equal with God.
What Are Attributes?
Phi 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was
also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in
the form of God, did not regard equality with God a
thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking
one Person
ofofthe
Trinity and being made in the
the form
a bond-servant,
likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a
Permanent
- will not change over time
man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death, even death on a cross.9 For
this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and
bestowed
on Him
the name
which isessence
above every
Inseparable
from
God’s
being,
and
name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY
existence
KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and
on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every
tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glorybecame
of God theaFather.
when He
man:
• Qualities of the entire Godhead - not just
•
• Intrinsic - cannot be gained nor lost
• NOTE: Jesus gave up His divine attributes
• Mar 6:5 And He could do no miracle
there except that He laid His hands on a
few sick people and healed them.
• Mat 24:36 "But of that day and hour no one
knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor
the Son, but the Father alone.
Inscrutability
• There is a sense in which God will never be
known by any created being
• God is infinite, and an infinite amount of time
would be required by a finite being to even get
close to understanding God
• God’s attributes are infinite - even though we can
share some of God’s attributes, e.g. love, - our
expression of that attribute is only a mere fraction
of God’s
• We only know what God has revealed.
• We will spend eternity getting to know God!
General Revelation
• We can know what God has revealed
through His general revelation
-creation
-physical laws - physics
-science
-mathematics
-biology
-morality and conscience
• Psalm 19:1-4 “The heavens declare the
glory of God; the skies proclaim the work
of His hands. Day after day they pour forth
speech; night after night they display
knowledge. There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard. Their voice
goes out into all the earth, their words to the
ends of the world.”
• Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the
world God's invisible qualities — His
eternal power and divine nature — have
been clearly seen, being understood from
what has been made, so that men are
without excuse.”
• The ability to love unconditionally is a
reflection of divine love.
"It's not for lack of evidence that people turn
from God; it's from their pride or their will. God
is not going to force anyone into the fold. Love
never works coercively. It only works
persuasively. And there's plenty of persuasive
evidence there.”
Norman Geisler, The Case for Christ; quoted in
Servant.
HOW DO WE STUDY THE
ATTRIBUTES OF GOD?
• The attributes are in harmony with one
another. That is, they complement one
another, work together with one
another, are not in conflict with one
another, and no attribute is superior or
inferior to any other. All His attributes
are always fully active. So, God can be
just and loving without the one being in
conflict
with
the
other.
This
demonstrates the SIMPLICITY of God.
“The harmony of His being is the result not of
perfect balance between the parts but of the
absence of parts. Between His attributes no
contradiction can exist. He need not suspend
one to exercise another, for in Him all His
attributes are one. All of God does all that God
does; He does not divide Himself to perform a
work, but works in the total unity of His being.”
A. W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy.
HOW DO WE STUDY THE
ATTRIBUTES OF GOD?
• The attributes are in harmony with one
another.
• We recognize that all God’s attributes
are infinite, i.e., they are complete (not
maturing or changing), they have
always existed completely and always
will exist completely.
Thus, He is a
unique, singular God. There is no one
like Him and all other beings exist from,
through, and for Him (1 Cor. 8:6). This
demonstrates the UNITY of God.
WHAT ARE THE ATTRIBUTES
OF GOD?
“An attribute of God is whatever God has in any
way revealed as being true of Himself.…An
attribute, then, is a part of God. It is how God
is, and as far as the reasoning mind can go, we
may say that it is what God is, though…
WHAT ARE THE ATTRIBUTES
OF GOD?
“… exactly what He is He cannot tell us. Of what
God is conscious when He is conscious of self, only
He knows. ‘The things of God knoweth no man,
but the Spirit of God.’ [1 Cor. 2:11] Only to an
equal could God communicate the mystery of His
Godhead; and to think of God as having an equal is
to fall into an intellectual absurdity.”
Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy.
WHAT ARE THE ATTRIBUTES
OF GOD?
• God’s INCOMMUNICABLE attributes
have nothing analogous in God’s
created beings.
 INFINITY — “God is free from all limitations to
His Being and attributes by the bounds of the
spacio-temporal horizon of the universe.” God is
limitless, measureless and knows no bounds (Job
5:9; 9:10; Ps. 145:3).
WHAT ARE THE ATTRIBUTES
OF GOD?
• God’s INCOMMUNICABLE attributes.
 INFINITY
 ETERNALITY — God is without beginning or
end; He is free from all succession of time;
He is the cause of time.
Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting,
You are God.
Psalm 90:2
“‘From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God,’
said Moses in the Spirit. ‘From the vanishing
point to the vanishing point’ would be another
way to say it quite in keeping with the words as
Moses used them. The mind looks backward in
time till the dim past vanishes, then turns and
looks into the future till thought and imagination
collapse from exhaustion; and God is at both
points, unaffected by either.”
A. W. Tozer.
WHAT ARE THE ATTRIBUTES
OF GOD?
• God’s INCOMMUNICABLE attributes.
 INFINITY
 ETERNALITY
 IMMENSITY— He cannot be localized in one
place. God transcends all spatial limitations;
He is present in every point in space with His
entire being through the agency of the Holy
Spirit.
WHAT ARE THE ATTRIBUTES
OF GOD?
• INCOMMUNICABLE




INFINITY
SELF-EXISTENCE
IMMUTABILITY
UNITY
• COMMUNICABLE













HOLINESS
OMNISCIENCE
OMNIPOTENCE
OMNIPRESENCE
WISDOM
SOVEREIGNTY
LOVE
JEALOUSY
GRACE
PATIENCE
GOODNESS
RIGHTEOUSNESS
TRUTH
“God is omniscient; He knows everything. God is
infallible; it is impossible for Him to fail. God is
inerrant; He never errs. Not only does God not
commit error, but He does not inspire error. God is
neither the source of nor the inspirer of error. What
comes from His divine mind is truth. What He
inspires is truth.…If a book has errors, it is not the
Word of God. If a book is the Word of God, it does
not have errors. We cannot have a book that is both
the Word of God and errant.”
Sproul, One Holy Passion.
“But who is able to build a house for
Him, for the heavens and the highest
heavens cannot contain Him? So who
am I, that I should build a house for
Him, except to burn incense before
Him?”
2 Chronicles 2:6
• Psa 139:7 Where can I go from Your
Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your
presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are
there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold,
You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the
dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the
sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
• God is omnipresent through the agency of
the Holy Spirit. Where is Jesus today?
• Col 3:1 Therefore if you have been raised
up with Christ, keep seeking the things
above, where Christ is, seated at the right
hand of God.
• Gen 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make
man in Our image, according to Our
likeness; and let them rule over the fish of
the sea and over the birds of the sky and
over the cattle and over all the earth, and
over every creeping thing that creeps on
the earth.“ 27 God created man in His
own image, in the image of God He created
him; male and female He created them.
• Image – “A masculine noun meaning an
image, a likeness, a statue, a model, a
drawing, a shadow”
• Likeness – “A feminine noun meaning
resemblance; concretely model, shape”
• The Hebrew is very clear here – we are
made in the physical likeness of The Father
and the Son!
Angels are the likeness of God
as well…
• Dan 10:16 And behold, one in the
likeness of the children of man touched
my lips. Then I opened my mouth and
spoke. I said to him who stood before me,
"O my lord, by reason of the vision pains
have come upon me, and I retain no
strength.
• Gen 5:1 This is the book of the
generations of Adam. When God created
man, he made him in the likeness of God.
•
• Gen 5:3 When Adam had lived 130 years,
he fathered a son in his own likeness, after
his image, and named him Seth.
• Gen 5:3 When Adam had lived 130 years,
he fathered a son in his own likeness, after
his image, and named him Seth.
• Gen 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make
man in Our image, according to Our
likeness;
• Same words!!!!
Where is God the Father?
• Rev 7:15 "For this reason, they are before
the throne of God; and they serve Him day
and night in His temple; and He who sits on
the throne will spread His tabernacle over
them.
• Dan 7:9 "I kept looking Until thrones were
set up, And the Ancient of Days took His
seat; His vesture was like white snow And
the hair of His head like pure wool. His
throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels
were a burning fire.
• This is the Father, seated on His Throne
• Dan 7:10 "A river of fire was flowing And
coming out from before Him; Thousands
upon thousands were attending Him, And
myriads upon myriads were standing before
Him; The court sat, And the books were
opened.
• Dan 7:13 "I kept looking in the night
visions, And behold, with the clouds of
heaven One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
• Dan 7:14 "And to Him was given
dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all
the peoples, nations and men of every
language Might serve Him. His dominion is
an everlasting dominion Which will not
pass away; And His kingdom is one Which
will not be destroyed.
• Rev 19:4 And the twenty-four elders and
the four living creatures fell down and
worshiped God who was seated on the
throne, saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!"
• Rev 7:10 and crying out with a loud voice,
"Salvation belongs to our God who sits on
the throne, and to the Lamb!"
What does the Father look like?
• Let’s ‘see’…
• Rev 4:2 At once I was in the Spirit, and
behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one
seated on the throne.
• Rev 4:3 And he who sat there had the
appearance of jasper and carnelian, and
around the throne was a rainbow that
had the appearance of an emerald.
Dan 7:9 As I looked, thrones were placed, and
the Ancient of days took his seat; his clothing
was white as snow, and the hair of his head like
pure wool;
• Rev 1:12 Then I turned to see the voice that
was speaking to me, and on turning I saw
seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the
midst of the lampstands one like a son of
man, clothed with a long robe and with a
golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs
of his head were white like wool, as white
as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire,
15 his feet were like burnished bronze,
refined in a furnace, and his voice was like
the roar of many waters.
• Rev 5:6 And between the throne and the
four living creatures and among the elders I
saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been
slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes,
which are the seven spirits of God sent out
into all the earth.
• Rev 5:7 And he went and took the scroll
from the right hand of him who was seated
on the throne.
• Rev 5:13 And I heard every creature in
heaven and on earth and under the earth and
in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
"To him who sits on the throne and to the
Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and
might forever and ever!"
• Mat 23:22 And whoever swears by heaven
swears by the throne of God and by him
who sits upon it.
Balance of Attributes
• God’s attributes exist in perfect balance with each
other
• God would not make a rock too big to lift since it
would violate His attribute of wisdom
• God cannot sin because He IS the mark and sin is
missing the mark, and He can not miss Himself
• God cannot lie since it would violate his attribute of
Truthfulness and Faithfulness
• God cannot forgive sin without a satisfactory payment
as it would violate His attributes of Justice and
Righteousness, and it would violate the law, which
would be sin, and God cannot sin.
Categorizations
• Moral vs. Natural
• Moral - deals with the concept of right and wrong
• Natural - non-moral superlatives, e.g. omnipotence
• Relative vs. Absolute
• Relative - manifested in His relationship to creation
• Absolute - qualities which exist apart from creation
• Communicable vs. Incommunicable
• Communicable - shared with other beings, e.g. love
• Incommunicable - no counterpart exists for created
beings, e.g. omnipotence
Spirituality
• God, the Holy Spirit - John 4:24
•
•
•
•
•
•
No physicality
No spatial limitations
Not destructible like ordinary matter
Timeless and ageless
Invisible
Cannot be reduced to an image
Personality
•
•
•
•
•
•
Self-conscious - Exodus 3:14
Relational - Genesis 3
Intelligent - Isaiah 55
Has a will - 2 Peter 3:18
Has emotions
Manifested in God’s many names
• Elohim
• Yahweh/Jehovah
• Yahweh (YHWH): Some use ‘Jehovah’,
however the most probably pronunciation
is ‘Yahweh. Comes from a verb which
means “to exist, be.” Compounds of Yahweh
• Let’s look at the names of God…
Personality: Names of God
• Elohim - refers to God’s power and might in
relation to His creation
The plural form of EL, meaning “strong one.”
Is used of false gods, but when used of the true
God, it is a plural of majesty and intimates the
trinity.
• Used 2,570 times in the Bible
• Four compound names exist using Elohim
 El-Shaddai - the God who Provides - Genesis 17:1
 El-Elyon - God Almighty - Genesis 14:17-20
 El-Roi - the God who Sees - Genesis 16:13
 El-Olam - the Everlasting God - Isaiah 40:28-31
Personality: Names of God
• Yahwey - refers to God in His special
relationship with humanity
• Most common name - occurs 6,823 times
• Has as it’s root form the meaning “Self-Existent
One” - the “I AM” of Exodus
• Often referred to as the tetragrammaton - referring
to the four Hebrew letters that make up the name “Y H W H”
• If it is Jehovah, remember there is no ‘J’ sound in
Hebrew – it would be yehovah.
• Highly revered by orthodox Jews - they won’t even
pronounce it out loud
Personality: Names of God
• Nine compound names exist using Jehovah
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Yahweh-Jireh - the Lord Provides - Genesis 22:13-14
Yahweh-Nissi - the Lord my Banner - Exodus 17:15
Yahweh-Shalom - the Lord is Peace - Judges 6:24
Yahweh-Sabaoth - the Lord of Hosts - Isaiah 6:1-3
Yahweh-Maccaddeschem - the Lord thy Sanctifier - Exodus
31:13
Yahweh-Rohi - the Lord my Shepherd - Psalm 23
Yahweh-Tsidkenu - the Lord our Righteousness - Jeremiah 23:6
Yahweh-Shammah - the Lord who is Present - Ezekiel 48:35
Yahweh-Rapha - the Lord our Healer - Exodus 15:26
• Exo 34:13 You shall tear down their altars
and break their pillars and cut down their
Asherim
• Exo 34:14 (for you shall worship no
other god, for the LORD, whose name is
Jealous, is a jealous God),
The Jealousy of God summarized
• Ex. 20:4-5 — God is jealous for His name
• 1 Pt. 1:3-5 — God uses His power to protect
the inheritance of His people
• Hosea 1-3 — God is jealous for the fellowship
of His people.
Infinity
• Limitless and unlimitable - 1 Kings 8:22-27,
Jeremiah 23:24
• Exists outside the boundaries of our
universe yet sits on a throne in heaven
• Implies a sense in which God can never be
fully known by a finite being
Infinity: Omnipresence
• God, through the Holy Spirit, is everywhere, at
the same time
- Jeremiah 23:23, Psalms 139
• The Father is seated on the throne, but being
one with the Spirit makes his presence
everywhere the Spirit is.
Infinity: Omnitemporal
• God equally knows everything from any time He knows the future equally as well as the past
- Psalm 90, Isaiah 40-48, Revelation 1:8
• Implied in this concept is the notion of
omniscience - since the past, present, and future
are equally clear to God he knows all events
equally well
• His foreknowledge does not negate free will
and natural events. He will never violate free
will yet at times will intervene in natural
events.
Infinity: Omniscience
• God knows everything, in infinite detail, with
no effort - Psalm 147:5, Proverbs 15:3,
Matthew 10:29, Hebrews 4:13
• God’s knowledge is boundless
• God knows what could have happened but did
not as well as what will happen
Infinity: Wisdom
• God knows ALL the facts and makes all
decisions with full knowledge of them and in
light of what is ultimately best - Romans 11:33,
1 Corinthians 2:7, 1 Timothy 1:17
• God makes no mistakes in His dealings with
mankind and His purposes in history
• We need to submit to God’s Word and His
direction in our lives because He knows what
could happen and what will happen and His
plan is much better than ours.
Infinity: Omnipotence
• God can do anything that is in harmony with
His other attributes - Genesis 18:10-14,
Jeremiah 32:15-17, Matthew 19:26
• God’s power is unlimited
• God’s purposes are never frustrated as He has
the power to bring about His will
Infinity: Sovereignty
•
•
•
•
•
God is sovereign over nature
God is sovereign over history
God is sovereign over salvation
God is sovereign over creation
God’s will is never frustrated as His
sovereignty is connected to His omnipotence
Infinity: Sovereignty
• The problem of evil - Theodicy
• God allowed evil to exist in the universe in
order to reveal many of His attributes that
would never be known if evil had not existed
• God WILL deal with evil - someday all wrongs
will be righted
• God’s timetable is not ours
• Human history, when compared to eternity, is a
mere blip on the screen
Infinity: Aseity
• Refers to God’s self-existence - He depends
on no other being for His existence
• Expressed best in God’s name as given to
Moses in Exodus 3:13-14 - I AM
• God is independent in His:
•
•
•
•
Thoughts - Romans 11:33-34
Will - Romans 9:9, Ephesians 1:5
Power - Psalms 115:3
Counsel - Psalms 33:10-11
Infinity: Eternality
• God is absolutely free from the boundaries
of time - He was, is, and is to be Deuteronomy 33:27, Psalms 102:11-12,
John 8:56-57
• His eternality is bi-directional - He existed
from eternity past - and will exist to eternity
future
• In contrast, all men had a beginning - God
always was - the eternal I AM
Infinity: Self-Sufficiency
• God does not need anything or anyone to
complete Himself - He is completely free
from any outside requirements for
happiness or fulfillment - Psalm 50:10-12
• God did not need to create the creation - but
He did for His own purposes and pleasures Revelation 4:11, Ephesians 1
Immutability
• God does not change - Psalm 102:26-27,
Psalm 33:11, Malachi 3:6
• God is not becoming - He is not learning new
things as history progresses nor is He forgetting
past events
• God’s will and purposes do not change
• God’s decrees will never change
• God cannot lie
Holiness
• Refers to God’s utter “otherness”
• Has as a root concept God’s total
disconnection from creation - God and
creation are completely separate
• Most often mentioned attribute of God in
the Scriptures
• Is pictured by the Seraphim protecting
creation from God in heaven - Isaiah 6
Holiness
• When used in a moral context - refers to
God’s total moral perfection and complete
separation from sin - James 1:13, Job 34:12
• God does not do something because it is right rather it is right because God does it
• God is the universal “ruler” for determining
right and wrong
Justice
• Defined as God acting in perfect conformity with
His own law and character
• Demands that sin be paid for by the sinner or an
acceptable substitute
• God is the definition of Just
• God does not do something because it is just - rather
something is just because God does it
• God’s justice is totally impartial and fair
• The ultimate realization of God’s justice will be
seen in the Eternal State - Heaven or Hell
Truth
•
•
•
•
God is Truth - Titus 1:2, John 17:17, 19
God cannot lie - Hebrews 6:18
God will not deceive or lead anyone astray
The truthfulness of God does not mean that
God says everything - He may withhold
information, but He will never lie
• God demands truthfulness for all who name
His Name
Faithfulness
• God’s faithfulness is closely connected with his
Truthfulness
• God will never let any of his children down - He
never has in 6,000 years of human history - He
never will - Deuteronomy 7:9, Psalm 36:5, Psalm
89:1-2, Lamentations 3:22-23
Love
• Refers to God’s self-sacrificial love
• God’s love is not dependent on the response of
the one being loved
• God’s love is based on a decision - not a “giddy
feeling” in His stomach
• Is not an emotion - but rather a choice
• Two concepts
• Unselfish concern for another’s welfare
• Seeks the highest good for the one loved
Love
• Most thought of, and most misunderstood of
all God’s attributes
• God’s love was best expressed in His gift the life of his Son for us - John 3:16, 1 John
4:8ff, Romans 5:8
Love: Goodness
• Refers to Gods benevolence towards
mankind - Psalm 107:8, 23:6, Romans 2:4
• Is given to both sinner and saint alike
• Is closely connected with the concept of
common grace
Love: Mercy
• Refers to God’s pity for the wretched state
of the sinner - Psalm 103:8-17, Hebrews
8:8, 12, Jonah 4:2
• “Not getting what we deserve”
• It is God’s mercy that moves Him to seek a
solution to man’s sin problem
• God’s mercy, however, does not last forever
- there is a day when mercy ends and
judgment begins
Love: Grace
• Refers to God’s unmerited favor towards
man in providing a means of redemption
and forgiveness - Psalm 116:5, Titus 2:11,
Ephesians 2:8-9
“Getting what we don’t deserve”
• Grace is:
• Unmerited - nothing exists intrinsically in man
that would cause God to exhibit grace towards
him - Titus 3:5
• Unearned - nothing man can do can ever earn
God’s grace - Titus 3:5
Love: Grace
• Grace is
• Unpayable - nothing man can do can ever repay God
for His grace
• Unending - God’s grace towards the believer is
unending and eternal - it can never be undone
• Unfathomable - God alone knows why He shows grace
to the sinner - Romans 9, Ephesians 1
Love: Persistent
• Refers to God’s persistent pursuit of the
sinner in order to display His love and
forgiveness - Romans 2:4, 1 Peter 3:20, 2
Peter 3:15
• Closely connected with God’s patience in
not immediately exacting the proper and
right punishment for sin
Wrath
• Refers to God’s automatic and intrinsic
response to sin - Romans 1:18ff.
• Comes from the Greek word “thumos” which literally means “to blow one’s stack”
• God’s wrath will be fully realized in the
condemnation of the wicked to the Lake of
Fire
Wrath
• Has two components
• Temporal - evidenced by the “bad things” that
happen to people
• Disease
• Disaster
• Death
• Eternal - evidenced by the Lake of Fire
Immanence
• Refers to God’s immediate and personal
involvement in creation - specifically in His
relationship with men
• God is not the “absentee Landlord” of
Deism
• God is not the apathetic creator of Islam and
other pagan religions
Transcendence
• Embodies the concept that God is infinitely
beyond His creation
• When creation is subtracted from the
universe - God is still there - He is
transcendent over creation and all existence