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A brief study of the Attributes of God

A brief study of the Attributes of God. What God is Not. What God is Not!. Transcendence. Infinite. Unchangeable. Omnipresent. Knowledge of The Holy: Chapters 8, 9, 13, 14. We can gain considerable advantage in our struggle to understand what God is like

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A brief study of the Attributes of God

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  1. A brief study of the Attributes of God What God is Not

  2. What God is Not! Transcendence Infinite Unchangeable Omnipresent Knowledge of The Holy: Chapters 8, 9, 13, 14

  3. We can gain considerable advantage in our struggle to understand what God is like By the simple expedient of thinking what He is not like. We have seen that God had no origin, that He had no beginning, that He requires no helpers, He suffers no change and in His essential being there are no limitations.”

  4. Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter II • Paragraph 2 • God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them; he is the alone foundation of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom, are all things; and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever himself pleaseth. In his sight all things are open and manifest; his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature; so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain. He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his commands. To him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience he is pleased to require of them.

  5. Larger Catechism #7 God is a Spirit, in and of himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness, and perfection; all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, everywhere present, almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.

  6. Some Definitions . . . “Spirit” = Incorporeal and personal Incommunicable – Those Characteristics of God that are unique to Him. Communicable – Those Characteristics of God that are reflected in his creatures. Transcendence – God is completely separate from all creation Immanence – God is fully present and involved in all creation

  7. Transcendence 15  For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, . . .Isaiah 57:15 “It is God Himself who puts it in our hearts to seek Him and makes it possible in some measure to know Him and He is pleased with even the feeblest effort to make Him Known.”p. 70-71

  8. “God is spirit, and to Him magnitude and distance have no meaning, To us they are useful as analogies and illustrations, so God refers to them constantly when speaking down to our limited understanding. , , we who dwell in a world of matter, time and space tend to think in material terms and can grasp abstract ideas only when they are identified in some way with material things. In its struggle to free itself from the tyranny of the natural world, the human heart must learn to translate upward the language the Spirit uses to instruct us” p. 69

  9. Infinite God is unlimited, knows no bounds and is measureless in regard to matter (a Spirit), time (Eternal), and Space (Immense). We shall see He is also unlimited in his Presence, Knowledge and Power.

  10. Psalm 147:4-5 4  He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. Psalm 93:1-2 1  The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.  Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.

  11. Romans 11:33-36 33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”  “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

  12. Job 38-41. Isaiah 40. Psalm 139

  13. God's infinitude belongs to us and is made known to us for our everlasting profit. . . How completely satisfying to turn from our limitations to a God who has none. . . In God there is life enough for all and time enough to enjoy it. . . the mercy of God is infinite too . . .p. 47

  14. Unchangeable God never differs from Himself, He is always the same in His eternal being. God cannot change for the better, nor can He change for the worse – one who can suffer any degree of change is neither self-existent, self-sufficient, nor eternal, and so is not God. He remains always one and the same true God, faithful to Himself, His works and his Decrees.

  15. Immutability(Unchangeable) James 1:17 17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Psalm 102:24-2725  Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.  They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.

  16. God frequently uses anthropomorphic and anthropopathic and figurative language in communicating Himself to us in the Scriptures . When the Bible speaks of His “comings” and “goings”; his “lofty high place”, of His “eyes” and “arm” and “ears”. – we don’t take these literally.

  17. Numbers 23:19  God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? Malachi 3:6  “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 2 Timothy 2:13 13  if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself. Psalm 33:11 (ESV) 11  The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.

  18. “The divine immutability should not be understood as immobility. The Bible teaches that God enters into manifold relations with man and, as it were, lives their life with them. There is change round about him, change in the relations of men to Him, but there is not change in his Being, His Attributes, His Purpose, His motives of actions or His promises.”Louis Berkhof

  19. “In Greek thought immutability meant not only unchangeability, but also the inability to be affected by anything in any way. . . The biblical perspective tells us that God is indeed immutable, but that he nevertheless notices and is affected by the obedience, plight or sin of His creatures.”James Boice

  20. “In coming to Him at any time we need not wonder whether we shall find Him in a receptive mood. He is always receptive to misery and need, as well as to love and faith. . . God never changes moods or cools off in His affections or loses enthusiasm. His attitude toward sin is now the same as it was when He drove out the sinful man from the eastward garden, and His attitude toward the sinner the same as when He stretched forth His hands and cried, ”Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” p.53

  21. “The immutability of God appears in its most perfect beauty when viewed against the mutability of men. In God no change is possible; in men change is impossible to escape. God, they say changes not. The law of mutation belongs to a fallen world, but God is immutable, and in Him men of faith find at last eternal permanence. In the meanwhile change works for the children of the kingdom, not against them. The changes that occur in them are wrought by the hand of the in-living Spirit.”p.50

  22. “In the working out of His redemptive processes the unchanging God makes full use of change and through a succession of changes arrives at permanence at last. God will not compromise and He need not be coaxed. He cannot be persuaded to alter His Word nor talked into answering selfish prayer. In all our efforts to find God, to please Him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part.” p.54

  23. “This truth has two faces: it is disturbing to those who are in rebellion against God and it is comforting to those who have come to know Him through Christ. God will always be sovereign, always be holy, always be omniscient. . . God's purposes for Christ will not change. His purpose is to Glorify Him.” James Boice

  24. Omnipresent God transcends all spacial limits and is immediately present in every part of creation. Everyone and everything are immediately in His presence. If He is omnipotent and omniscient, then He must be an omnipresent spirit. The scriptural doctrine of prayer most vividly and naturally assumes the omnipresence of God.

  25. Acts 17:27-28 27  that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Proverbs 15:3 3  The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. Jeremiah 23:23-24  “Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away?  Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD.

  26. Psalm 139:1-41  O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 2  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.  You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.   Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. 7  Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 11

  27. “Few other truths are taught in the Scriptures with as great clarity as the doctrine of the divine omnipresence. . . They declare that God is immanent in His creation, that there is no place in heaven or earth or hell where men may hide from His presence. They teach that God is at once far off and near, and that in Him men move and live and have their being.”p.74

  28. “This truth is to the convinced Christian a source of deep comfort in sorrow and of steadfast assurance in all the varied experiences of his life. To him ”the practice of the presence of God” consists not of protecting an imaginary object from within his own mind and then seeking to realize its presence; it is rather to recognize the real presence of the One whom all sound theology declares to be already there, an objective entity, existing apart from any apprehension of Him on the part of His creatures. . . That God is here both Scripture and reason declare. It remains only for us to learn to realize this in conscious experience.”p. 76

  29. “The doctrine of the divine omnipresence personalizes man’s relation to the universe in which he finds himself. This great central truth gives meaning to all truths and imparts supreme value to all his little life. God is present, near him, next to him, and this God sees him and knows him through and through.”p. 75

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