“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” “We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God” – A.W. Tozer. With reference to a definition of God, it is probable that nothing more comprehensive or biblical has been formed than that incorporated into the Westminster Confession of Faith (1643 – 1646). This confession declares:
“There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions (the state or capacity of being acted on or controlled by external agents or forces), immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him; and withal most just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.
God has 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 has 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 has most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, and upon them, whatsoever Himself pleaseth. In His sight all things are open and manifest; His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent of 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.
In unity of the Godhead there are three persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.”
We will define an attribute of God as: whatever God has in any way revealed as being true of Himself. An attribute, then, is not a part of God; it is how He is. The divine attributes are what we know to be true of God. He does not possess them as qualities; they are how God is as He reveals Himself to His creatures. These attributes are so interrelated and interdependent that the exact placing of some of them is difficult if not wholly impossible. Yet they blend harmoniously with each other in the unity of the one Being, God. In Him, His attributes are all pervasive, and each of them is infinite and without limitation.
God’s attributes are not isolated traits of His character but facets of His unitary being. They are no things-in-themselves, but rather thoughts by which we think of God, aspects of a perfect whole, names given to whatever we know to be true of the Godhead. To have a correct understanding of the attributes, it is necessary that we see them all as one. We can think of them separately, but they cannot be separated.
I think that almost every heresy that has afflicted the church through the years has arisen from believing about God things that are not true, or from over-emphasizing certain true things so as to obscure other things equally true.
God is a Person with those faculties and constituent elements which belong to personality. These faculties and elements in God are perfect to an infinite degree. The elements which combine to form personality are: intellect, sensibility/emotion, and will; but all of these acting together require a freedom both of external action and of choice of ends toward which action is directed. Intellect must direct, sensibility must desire, and will must determine in the direction of rational ends.
And God has all three: intellect (Psa. 147:5; Acts 15:18; Heb. 4:13); sensibility (Jas. 5:11; Lk. 1:78; Psa. 45:7); and will (Psa. 115:3; Isa. 46:10; Dan. 4:35).
The will of God expresses primarily His attributes of self-determination by which He acts in accordance with His eternal power and Godhead. Though God’s will cannot be limited in any sense, His perfections insure that He will never do anything that is incompatible with His nature.
Those who know their God have: great energy for God; great thoughts of God; great boldness for God; and great contentment in God.
The Hebrew word “adon” means “lord” in the sense of a superior, master, or owner. It’s also used as a term of respect. The plural form “Adonay” refers only to God and is translated as “Lord”. Both the singular and plural forms of “adon” when referring to God capitalize the first letter, “L”, in the English translation, “Lord”.
The Hebrew word “Yhwh” or “Yahweh” (later written as “Jehovah”) is translated as “LORD” (all capitalized letters) and is God’s personal revealed name. It’s derived from an old form of the Hebrew meaning “to be”. The word stresses existence, with the meaning being “I am”, emphasizing the unchanging nature of God, particularly His unchanging commitment to His people.
The word “kyrios” is translated “lord” in English. In ordinary speech it was simply a term of respect, like “sir”, or emphasizing superior position, as “master” or “owner”. When referring to God or Jesus, it’s translated as “Lord”. However, not everyone who refers to Jesus as “kyrios” in the Gospels acknowledges His deity and so uses the term as a divine name. But in Acts and the Epistles, the term affirms Jesus’ lordship or deity (e.g., Phil. 2:5, 6, 11; Col. 2:6, 9; Acts 2:22, 25; 7:59, 60) as the “Supreme One”. And when Jesus refers to Himself as “Lord”, He’s ascribing deity to Himself (e.g., Matt. 12:8).
The Hebrew words “el”, “eloha”, and “elohim” mean “god” or “mighty one”. To distinguish the one true God of the Old Testament from the pagan gods, “elohim” is often linked with other descriptive terms that set Him apart from pagan deities. These linked terms include: “Most High” (Gen. 14:18, 19), “Almighty” (Gen. 17:1), “holy” (Isa. 5:16), “righteous” (Isa. 45:21), “Everlasting” (Gen. 21:33), “truth” (Psa. 31:5), “of heaven on high” (Psa. 136:26), “God of gods” (Dan. 11:36), “Creator (Gen. 1:1), “Savior” (Psa. 106:21), “judge” (Psa. 50:6), “just” (Isa. 30:18), “present everywhere” (Psa. 139:7-10), “living” (Jer. 10:10). The Greek word for “God” is “theos”– Dr. L. Richards’ Expository Dictionary of Bible Words.
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