How is God like us in attributes of will and in attributes that summarize his excellence?
Attributes of Purpose
Will
God’s will is that attribute of God whereby he approves and determines to bring about every action necessary for the existence and activity of himself and all creation.
God’s Will in General:
the final or most ultimate reason for everything that happens
“who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11)
“For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created”
(Rev. 4:11)
James encourages us to see all the events of our lives as subject to God’s will.
‘if the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that’ (James 4:15)
Distinctions in Aspects of God’s Will:
Necessary will and free will:
What does God will necessarily?
He wills himself.
“I AM WHO I AM” or, “I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE” (Ex. 3:14)
God cannot choose to be different than he is or to cease to exist.
God’s free will includes all things that God decided to will but had no necessity to will according to his nature.
ex. creation & redemption
Secret will and revealed will:
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God; but the things that are revealed
belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this
law” (Deut. 29:29).
God’s revealed will is sometimes also called God’s will of precept or will of
command.
God’s secret will is sometimes also called God’s will of decree.
“Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10) must be understood
as an appeal for the revealed will of God to be followed on earth.
When James tells us to say, “If the Lords wills, we shall live and we shall do
this or that” (James 4:15), he teaches that to trust in the secret will of God
overcomes prides and expresses humble dependence on God’s sovereign
control over the events of our lives.
Freedom
God’s freedom is that attribute of God whereby he does whatever he pleases.
“Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases” (Ps. 115:3).
Omnipotence (Power, Sovereignty)
God’s omnipotence means that God is able to do all his holy will.
God’s exercise of power over his creation is also called God’s sovereignty.
“Summary” Attributes
Perfection
God’s perfection means that God completely possesses all excellent qualities
and lacks no part of any qualities that would be desirable for him.
Blessedness
To be “blessed is to be happy in a very full and rich sense.
Paul calls God “the blessed and only Sovereign” (1 Tim. 6:15) and speaks of “the glorious gospel of the blessed God (1 Tim 1:11).
eulogetos - often translated blessed
makarios - which means happy
God’s blessedness means that God delights fully in himself and in all that reflects
his character.
“Every good endowment 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”
(James 1:17)
Beauty
God’s beauty is that attribute of God whereby he is the sum of all desirable
qualities.
Glory
God’s glory is the created brightness that surrounds God’s revelation of himself.
This glory of God is the visible manifestation of the excellence of God’s
character.
God made us to reflect his glory. Paul tells us that even now in our Christian
lives we all are being “changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to
another” (2 Cor. 3:18).
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