The Character of God: Incommunicable Attributes

THE CHARACTER OF GOD:
“INCOMMUNICABLE”
ATTRIBUTES

How is God different from us?

EXPLANATION AND SCRIPTURAL BASIS

A. Introduction to the Study of God’s Character

1. Classifying God’s Attributes.

- incommunicable attributes (that is, those attributes that God does not share or “communicate” to others)

ex. God’s eternity, unchangeableness or omnipresence

- communicable attributes (those God shares or “communicates” with us)

ex. Love, knowledge, mercy or justice


2. The Names of God in Scripture.

In a broad sense, God’s “name” is equal to all that the Bible and creation tell us about God.

Matthew 6:9 – we pray that people would speak about God in a way that is honoring to him and that accurately reflects his character

Matthew 5: 16 – our actions reflect the character of the Creator whom we serve

Exodus 20:7 – commands that we not dishonor God’s reputation either by words that speak of him in a foolish or misleading way, or by actions that do not reflect his true character

Individual names attributed to God all reflect some true aspect of his character.



Descriptions of God taken from creation: God is compared to a lion (Isa. 31:4), an eagle (Deut 32:11), a lamb (Isa. 53:7), a hen (Matt. 23:37), the sun (Ps. 84:11), the morning star (Rev. 22:16), a light (Ps. 27:1), a torch (Rev. 21:23), a fire (Heb. 12:29), a fountain (Ps. 36:9) a rock (Deut. 32:4), a hiding place (Ps. 119:114), a tower (Prov. 18:10), a shadow (Ps. 91:1), a shield (Ps. 84:11), a temple (Rev. 21:22) and so forth.

Descriptions of God taken from human experience: God is called bridegroom (Isa. 61:10), husband (Isa. 54:5), father (Deut. 32:6), judge and king (Isa. 33:22), man of war (Ex. 15:3), builder and maker (Heb. 11:10), shepherd (Ps. 23:1), physician (Ex. 15:26), and so forth.

Furthermore, God is spoken of in terms of human actions such as knowing (Gen. 18:21), remembering (Gen. 8:1; Ex. 2:24), seeing (Gen. 1:10), hearing (Ex. 2:24), smelling (Gen. 8:21), tasting (Ps. 11:5), sitting (Ps. 9:7), rising (Ps. 68:1), walking (Lev. 26:12), wiping away tears (Isa. 25:8), and so forth.

All of creation reveals something about God to us…

All that Scripture says about God uses anthropomorphic language…

God made the universe so that it would show forth the excellence of his character…

It muse be remembered that though all that Scripture tells us about God is true, it is not exhaustive. Scripture does not tell us everything about God’s character. Thus, we will never know God’s full or complete “name” in the sense that we will never understand God’s character exhaustively. We will never know all there is to know about God. For this reason theologians have sometimes said, “God has many names, yet God has no name.” God has many names in that we know many true descriptions of his character from Scripture, but God has no name in that we will never be able to describe or understand all of his character.

3. Balanced Definitions of God’s Incommunicable Attributes.

Attributes will be defined with a two-part sentence. The first defines the attribute under discussion, and the second part guards against misunderstanding the attribute by stating a balancing or opposite aspect that relates to that attribute.

B. The Incommunicable Attributes of God

1. Independence.

God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify him and bring him joy.

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-25).

“Who has given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine “ (Job 41:11).

“Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory which I had with you before the world was made.” John 17:5

God exists by virtue of his very nature, and that he was never created and never came into being. He always was.

“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’” Exodus 3:14

The balancing consideration with respect to this doctrine is the fact that we and the rest of creation can glorify God and bring him joy.

God speaks of his sons and daughters from the ends of the earth as “every one who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Isa. 43:7).

It is also true that we are able to bring real joy and delight to God.

…as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. (Isa. 62:3-5)

The LORD “will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival” (Zeph. 3:17-18).

God does not need us for anything, yet it is the amazing fact of our existence that he chooses to delight in us and to allow us to bring joy to his heart. This is the basis for personal significance in the lives of all God’s people: to be significant to God is to be significant in the most ultimate sense. No greater personal significance can be imagined.

2. Unchangeableness.

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.




Evidence in Scripture:

But you are the same, and your years have no end. (Ps. 102:25-27)

For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6).

“with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17).

The contrast between being and becoming marks the difference between the Creator and the creature. Every creature is continually becoming. It is changeable, constantly striving, seeks rest and satisfaction, and finds this rest in God, in him alone, for only he is pure being and no becoming.

---Herman Bavinck

Does God Sometimes Change His Mind?

Ex. 32:9-14
Isa. 38:1-6
Jonah 3:4, 10

These instances should all be understood as true expressions of God’s present attitudes or intention with respect to the situation as it exists at that moment.

The Question of God’s Impassibility:

God rejoices (Isa. 62:5). He is grieved (Ps. 78:40; Eph.4:30). His wrath burns hot against his enemies (Ex. 32:10). He pities his children (Ps. 103:13). He loves with everlasting love (Isa. 54:8; Ps. 103:17).

The Challenge From Process Theology:

Scripture is clear that our ultimate significance comes not from being able to change
being of God, but from the fact that God has created us for his glory and that he
counts us as significant. God alone gives the ultimate definition of what is significant
and what is not significant in the universe, and if he counts us significant, than we
are!

God Is Both Infinite and Personal:

Apart from the true religion found in the Bible, no system of religion has a God who is both infinite and personal.



The Importance of God’s Unchangeableness:

If God is not unchanging, then the whole basis of our faith begins to fall apart, and our understanding of the universe begins to unravel. This is because our faith and hope and knowledge all ultimately depend on a person who is infinitely worthy of trust – because he is absolutely and eternally unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises.

Eternity.

God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in his own being, and he sees all time equally vividly, yet God see events in time and acts in time.

God Is Timeless in His Own Being:

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Psalm 90:2

“’I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8; cf. 4:8).

“Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8: 58).

God Sees All Time Equally Vividly:

“For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” Psalm 90:4

“with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8).

God Sees Events in Time and Acts in Time:

“when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law” (Gal. 4:4-5).

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed…” (Acts 17:30-31).

We Will Always Exist in Time:

There will still be a succession of moments one after another and things happening one after another in heaven. We will experience eternal life not in an exact duplication of God’s attribute of eternity, but rather in a duration of time that will never end.

Omnipresence.

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.

“Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it” (Deut. 10:14).

God Is Present Everywhere:

Whither shall I go from your Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right had shall hold me. (Ps. 139:7-10)

God Does Not Have Spatial Dimensions:

God cannot be contained by any space, no matter how large.

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house which I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27).

God is a being who exists without size or dimensions in space.

God Can Be Present to Punish, to Sustain, or to Bless:

God is present in different ways in different places.

Not one of them shall flee away, not one of them shall escape. Though they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search out and take them; and though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. And though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them; and I will set my eyes upon them for evil and not for good. (Amos 9:1-4)

“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17).

(continually) “upholding the universe by his word of power” (Heb. 1:3).

“in your presence there is fullness of joy, in your right hand are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).


Unity.

God is not divided into parts, yet we see different attributes of God emphasized at different times.

“God is light” (1 John 1:5)
“God is love” (1 John 4:8)

We must remember that God’s whole being includes all of his attributes: he is entirely loving, entirely merciful, entirely just, and so forth. Every attribute of God that we find in Scripture is true of all of God’s being, and we therefore can say that every attribute of God also qualifies every other attribute. It is God himself in his whole being who is supremely important, and it is God himself in his whole being whom we are to seek to know and to love.

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD & THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

How do we know that God exists?

EXPLANATION AND SCRIPTURAL BASIS

A. Humanity’s Inner Sense of God

All persons everywhere have a deep, inner sense that God exists, that they are his creatures, and that he is their Creator.

- even Gentile unbelievers “knew God” (Romans 1:21)
- “exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Romans 1:25)
- “what can be known about God is plain to them”
- “because God has shown it to them” (Romans 1:19)
- it is “the fool” who says in his heart, “There is no God” (Psalms 14:1)
- the wicked person first “curses and renounces the Lord” then in pride repeatedly thinks “there is no God” (Psalms 10: 3-4)

B. Believing the Evidence in Scripture and Nature

If we are convinced that the Bible is true, then we know from the Bible not only that God exists but also very much about his nature and his acts.

- God’s eternal nature and deity have been “clearly perceived in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20)
- The “rains and fruitful seasons” as well as the “food and gladness” that all people experience and benefit from are also said by Barnabas and Paul to be witnesses to God (Acts 14:17)
- “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge” (Psalms 19:1-2).

In one sense everything that exists gives evidence of God’s existence. Everything in Scripture and everything in nature proves clearly that God exists and that he is the powerful and wise Creator that Scripture describes him to be. Therefore when we believe that God exists, we are basing our belief not on some blind hope apart from any evidence, but on an overwhelming amount of reliable evidence from God’s words and God’s works.



C. Traditional “Proofs” for the Existence of God

Constructed by Christian (and some non-Christian) philosophers in attempts to analyze evidence, especially from nature, in extremely careful and logically precise ways, in order to persuade people that it is not rational to reject the idea of God’s existence.

4 major types of proofs:

The cosmological argument
The teleogical argument
The ontological argument
The moral argument

The value of these proofs lies chiefly in overcoming some of the intellectual objections of unbelievers.

D. Only God Can Overcome Our Sin and Enable Us to Be Persuaded of His Existence

“the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4)

“since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21).

“in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:5).

In this sinful world, human wisdom is inadequate for coming to know God. We are dependent upon God to remove the blindness and irrationality caused by sin and to enable us to evaluate the evidence rightly, believe what Scripture says, and come to saving faith in Christ.









THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD

Can we really know God? How much of God can we know?

EXPLANATION AND SCRIPTURAL BASIS


A. The Necessity for God to Reveal Himself to Us

“because God has shown it to them” (Romans 1:19)
“No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27)
“in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:21)

The Bible alone tells us how to understand the testimony about God from nature. Therefore we depend on God’s active communication to us in Scripture for our true knowledge of God.

B. We Can Never Fully Understand God

It is not true to say that God is unable to be understood, but it is true to say that he cannot be understood fully or exhaustively.

“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable” (Psalms 145:3)
“Great is our LORD, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure” (Psalms 147:5)
“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” (Psalms 139:6)
“no one comprehends the things of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:12)

It is not only true that we can never fully understand God; it is also true that we can never fully understand any single thing about God.

C. Yet We Can Know God Truly

Even though we cannot know God exhaustively, we can know true things about God.



God is:
- love (1 John 4:8)
- light (1 John 1:5)
- spirit (John 4:24)
- just (Romans 3:26)

Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the might man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

Next Meeting...

Hey kids! Hope that this post finds all well. Just wanted to let you all know that we will be meeting next @ the Bennett house on Tuesday October 6th @ 6pm. We will take up our studies w/Part 2: The Doctrine of God.

Notes for this next meeting will be posted soon...(before the 1st) for your perusal & to make available for printing off this site to bring w/you!

See you soon...

Introduction

Systematic Theology for Dummies

EXPLANATION & SCRIPTURAL BASIS

A. Definition of Systemic Theology

Systematic theology is any study that answers the question, “What does the whole Bible teach us today?” about any given topic.

1. Relationship to Other Disciplines.

Emphasis not on:

Historical theology – a historical study of how Christians in different periods have
understood various theological topics

Philosophical theology – studying theological topics largely w/out use of the
Bible, but using the tools & methods of philosophical reasoning and
what can be known about God from observing the universe

Apologetics – providing a defense of the truthfulness of the Christian faith for the
purpose of convincing unbelievers

**only Scripture has the final authority to define what we are to believe

2. Application to Life

Systematic theology focuses on summarizing each doctrine as it should be understood by present-day Christians.

3. Systematic Theology & Disorganized Theology

Most Christians actually do systematic theology (or at least make systematic-theological statements) many times a week.

Ex: “The Bible says…”

Systematic – carefully organized by topics

4. What are Doctrines?

A doctrine is what the whole Bible teaches us today about some particular topic.



Part 1: The Doctrine of the Word of God
Part 2: The Doctrine of God
Part 3: The Doctrine of Man
Part 4: The Doctrines of Christ and the Holy Spirit
Part 5: The Doctrine of the Application of Redemption
Part 6: The Doctrine of the Church
Part 7: The Doctrine of the Future

Criteria:
1) doctrines most emphasized in Scripture
2) doctrines that have been most significant throughout the history of the
church & have been important for all Christians at all times
3) doctrines that have been important for Christians in the present situation
in the history of the church

B. Initial Assumptions

1. The Bible is true & our only absolute standard of the Truth
2. The God who is spoken of in the Bible exists, and that he is who the Bible says
he is.

C. Why Should Christians Study Theology?

1. The Basic Reason

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the
age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

2. The Benefits to Our Lives

Studying theology helps us: overcome our wrong ideas.
be able to make better decisions later.
grow as Christians.

Major vs. Minor Doctrine

D. A Note on Two Objections to the Study of Systematic Theology

1. “The Conclusions Are ‘Too Neat’ to be True.”

1. Find specific points of misinterpretation & make corrections
2. Internal consistency is an argument for individual results of systematic theology.

2. “The Choice of Topics Dictates the Conclusions.”

“The whole counsel of God” Acts 20:27
“children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine”
Ephesians 4:14

E. How Should Christians Study Systematic Theology?

1. We should Study Systematic Theology With Prayer

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law
Psalm 119:18

The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they
are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are
spiritually discerned. I Corinthians 2:14

2. We Should Study Systematic Theology With Humility

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God
opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble’ I Peter 5:5

Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger
of man does not work the righteousness of God James 1:19-20

3. We Should Study Systematic Theology With Reason

We are free to use our reasoning abilities to draw deductions from any passage of
Scripture so long as these deductions do not contradict the clear teaching of some other passage of Scripture.

Paradox – a seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true

Ex: God is 3 persons and 1 God…seemingly contradictory

Vs.

God is 3 persons & God is not 3 persons…true contradion

4. We Should Study Systematic Theology With Help From Others

And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third
teachers… I Corinthians 12:28


5. We Should Study Systematic Theology by Collecting and Understanding All
the Relevant Passages of Scripture on Any Topic

1. Find all relevant verses
2. Read, make notes on & summarize verse points
3. Summarize teachings


6. We should Study Systematic Theology With Rejoicing and Praise

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart Deuteronomy 6:5

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! Psalm 139:17

I rejoice at your word
Like one who finds great spoil. Psalm 119:162