The Nature of God and

His Action
Who is God for you?
Does God have a body?
Who made God?
What do we know about God
a) Before JC ? b) after JC?
“I Am Who Am” Ex 3, 14
“A divine attribute is a property that
is intrinsic in God by which God is
distinguished or identified. By
abstract thinking God may be
conceived apart from His attributes;
but He is known by His attributes,
and apart from them He would not
appear to be what He is.”
Walvoord, Chafer’s Systematic Theology.
 WHY THE STUDY OF GOD IS
IMPORTANT
 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom.
• There is a danger in not knowing God.
 Not knowing God may lead to idolatry.
 Not knowing God will lead to sin.
 Not knowing God will lead to eternal death.
 Knowing God will stimulate spiritual
discernment.
 Knowing God will produce rest and trust in
Him.
 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
Classifying God’s Attributes.
When we come to talk about the character of God
we realize that we cannot say everything the Bible teaches
us about God’s character at once. We need some way to
decide which aspect of God’s character to discuss first,
which aspect to discuss second, and so forth. In other
words, we need some way to categorize the attributes of
God. This question is not as unimportant as it may seem.
There is the possibility that we would adopt a misleading
order of attributes or that we would emphasize some
attributes so much that others would not be presented
properly.
 Balanced Definitions of God’s
Incommunicable Attributes
The incommunicable attributes of God are perhaps the
most easily misunderstood, probably because they represent
aspects of God’s character that are least familiar to our
experience. In this chapter, therefore, each of the
incommunicable attributes of God is defined with a two-part
sentence. The first part 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. For example, God’s un-changeableness is defined
as follows: “God is unchanging in his being, perfections,
purposes, and promises, yet God does act, and he acts differently
in response to different situations.” The second half of the
sentence guards against the idea that un-changeableness means
inability to act at all. Some people do understand un-
changeableness in this way, but such an understanding is
inconsistent with the biblical presentation of God’s un-
changeableness.
 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.

THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES
 Divine Knowledge : That God is
omniscient or possesses the most perfect
knowledge of all things, follows from His
infinite perfection.
 The Divine Will: The object of will as such,
the good. In the case of God it is evident
that His own infinite goodness is the
primary and necessary object of His will.
God possesses the perfection of free will
in an infinitely eminent degree.
 Providence
 Predestination
 Reprobation
 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.

Attributes of Greatness
(Millard Erickson)
Existence of God
Spirituality
Personality
Life
Infinity
Constancy
THE SELF-EXISTENCE OF GOD
God is self-existent, that is, He
has the ground of His existence in
Himself. This idea is sometimes
expressed by saying that He is causa
sui (His own cause), but this
expression is hardly accurate, since
God is the uncaused, who exists by
the necessity of His own Being, and
therefore necessarily. (Berkhof)
 Immutability
It is that perfection of God by which He is devoid of all
change, not only in His Being, but also in His perfections, and
in His purposes and promises. In virtue of this attribute He is
exalted above all becoming, and is free from all accession or
diminution and from all growth or decay in His Being or
perfections. His knowledge and plans, His moral principles
and volitions remain forever the same. Even reason teaches us
that no change is possible in God, since a change is either for
better or for worse. But in God, as the absolute Perfection,
improvement and deterioration are both equally impossible.
This immutability of God is clearly taught in such passages of
Scripture as Ex. 3:14; Ps.102:26-28; Isa. 41:4; 48:12; Mal. 3:6;
Rom. 1:23; Heb. 1:11,12; Jas. 1:17. At the same time there are
many passages of Scripture which seem to ascribe change to
God. (Berkhof)
 Independence
God’s independence is defined as
follows: 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. This attribute of God is sometimes
called his self-existence or his “aseity” (from
the Latin words a se which mean “from
himself “). (Acts 17:24–25, Job 41:11, Ps.
50:10–12)
 Unchangeableness
We can define the unchangeableness of God
as follows: 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. 5
This attribute of God is also called God’s
immutability.
a. Evidence in Scripture

Psalm 102.25 – 27
Malachi 3.6
James 1.17
b. Does God Sometimes Change His
Mind?
Examples of such withdrawing from
threatened judgment include the successful
intervention of Moses in prayer to prevent the
destruction of the people of Israel (Ex. 32:9–14), the
adding of another fifteen years to the life of
Hezekiah (Isa. 38:1–6), or the failure to bring
promised judgment upon Nineveh when the people
repented (Jonah 3:4, 10). Are these not cases where
God’s purposes in fact did change? Then there are
other passages where God is said to be sorry that he
had carried out some previous action. One thinks of
God being sorry that he had made man upon the
earth (Gen. 6:6), or sorry that he had made Saul king
(1 Sam. 15:10). Did not God’s purposes change in
these cases?
 c. The Question of God’s
Impassibility
This attribute, if true, would mean that
God does not have passions or
emotions, but is “impassible,” not
subject to passions.
 Spirituality
God is spirit; that is, he is not
composed of matter and does not
possess a physical nature. This is most
clearly stated by Jesus in John 4:24,
“God is spirit, and those who worship
him must worship in spirit and truth.”
It is also implied in various references
to his invisibility (John 1:18; 1 Tim.
1:17; 6:15-16).
 Personality
 God has a name – He has a name which he
assigns to himself and by which he reveals
himself. The particular names that God
assumes are indicative of the personal aspect
of his nature.
Exod. 3:14
Genesis 4:26
Exodus 20:7
 His activity in which he engages. He is
depicted in the Bible as knowing and
communing with human persons.
Gen. 3
 God is …
Gen 1:1 ………….the Creator
Ex 3: 14…… … AM>Being>one
Eph. 2: 4………. Merciful
2 Pet 3 …………Timeless
James 1:17 ……Immutable
1 John 4: 8…….. Love > good
Mat 6: 32 ……… Father
Eph. 1: 12-22 ….. Powerful
 Life
God is alive. He is characterized by life.
This is affirmed in Scripture in several
different ways. It is found in the assertion
that he is. His very name “I am” (Exod.
3:14) indicates that he is a living God.
Hebrews 11:6 says that everyone who
“would draw near to him must believe
that he exists and that he rewards those
who seek him.” Thus, existence is
considered a most basic aspect of his
nature.
 Infinite
God is infinite. This means not only that
God is unlimited, but that he is
illimitable. In this respect, God is unlike
anything we experience. Even those
things that common sense once told us
are infinite or boundless are now seen to
have limits. (Erickson)
God is that perfection of God by which
He is free from all limitations (Berkhof)
 Immensity and omnipresence. God is not subject to
limitations of space. By this we do not mean merely
the limitation of being in a particular place- if an object
is in one place it cannot be in another.
 There is no place where he cannot be found. We are
here facing the tension between the immanence of
God (he is everywhere) and the transcendence (he is
not anywhere). The point here is that nowhere within
the creation is God inaccessible. Jeremiah quotes God
as saying, “Am I a God at hand, . . . and not a God afar
off?” (Jer. 23:23). The implication seems to be that
being a God at hand does not preclude his being afar
off as well. He fills the whole heaven and earth (v. 24).
 He in effect indicated that he is not limited either by
space or by time.
 God is also infinite in relation to time. Time does
not apply to him. He was before time began. The
question, How old is God? is simply inappropriate.
He is no older now than a year ago, for infinity
plus one is no more than infinity. He simply is not
restricted by the dimension of time.
 God is the one who always is. He was, he is, he
will be. Psalm 90:1-2 says, “LORD, thou hast been
our dwelling place in all generations. Before the
mountains were brought forth, or ever thou
hadst formed the earth and the world, from
everlasting to everlasting thou art God.” Jude 25
says, “To the only God, our Savior through Jesus
Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and
authority, before all time and now and for ever.”
INFINITY OF GOD
He is unlimited in every kind of
perfection or that every conceivable
perfection belongs to Him in the
highest conceivable way.
SUPREME GOODNESS: He is desirable
SUPREME BEAUTY: because He
possesses all the perfections. Beauty
of creation is reflection of his beauty.
SUPREME TRUTH
B. UNITY OR UNICITY OF GOD
Obviously there can be only one
infinite being, only one God. If
several were to exist, none of them
would really be infinite, for, to have
plurality of natures at all, each
should have some perfection not
possessed by the others.
C. SIMPLICITY OF GOD
God is a simple being or substance
excluding every kind of
composition, physical or
metaphysical.
D. DIVINE PERSONALITY
When we say that God is a personal
being we mean that He is
intelligent and free and distinct
from the created universe.
 Constancy
 God is Unchanging: In Psalm 102, the psalmist
contrasts God’s nature with the heavens and the
earth: “They will perish, but thou dost endure; . . .
they pass away; but thou art the same, and thy
years have no end” (vv. 26-27). Psalm 33:ll
stresses the permanence of God’s thoughts: “The
counsel of the LORD stands for ever, the
thoughts of his heart to all generations.” And
God himself says that although his people have
turned aside from his statutes, “I the LORD do not
change” (Mal. 3:6). James says that with God
“there is no variation or shadow due to change”
(James 1:17).
 This divine constancy involves several aspects. There is
no quantitative change. God cannot increase in
anything, because he is already, perfection. Nor can he
decrease, for if he were to, he would cease to be God.
There also is no qualitative change. The nature of God
does not undergo modification. Therefore, God does
not change his mind, plans, or actions, for these rest
upon his nature, which remains unchanged no matter
what occurs. Indeed, in Numbers 23:19 the argument
is that since God is not man, his actions must be
unalterable. Further, God’s intentions as well as his
plans are always consistent, simply because his will
does not change. Thus, God is ever faithful to his
covenant with Abraham, for example. He had chosen
Abraham and given him his word, and he would not
change his mind or go back on his promise.
"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.
 God Is Truth
God cannot deceive nor can he
be deceived.
God is truthful and faithful to
his word.
Whatever He says, IS,
BECOMES…
 God Is Good
God is goodness itself.
“No one is good but God
alone” (Lk. 18:19).
 God Is Spirit
Does God has a body? Or is he
“No-body”?
Because God is absolutely
simple, there is no composition
in him.
He does not have a body.
He took one in the Incarnation.
 God of Through Faith
("THE GOD OF REVELATION")
Reason + Sacred Scripture and the
Church teach the same.
The finite mind is not capable of
comprehending the Infinite so as
adequately to describe its essence by
any single concept or term. Being of
things is reduced to “being-for-me”
(Example: as applied to creatures,
goodness and justice, for example, are
distinct from each other. In God, they
are the same).
 A. ETERNITY
 By saying that God is eternal we mean that in
essence, life, and action He is altogether
beyond temporal limits and relations. He has
neither beginning, nor end, nor duration by
way of sequence or succession of moments.
 There is no past or future for God -- but only
an eternal present. "Before Abraham was, I
am." Eternity, therefore, as predicated of God,
does not mean indefinite duration in time.
"Him that is, and that was and that is to
come" (Apoc., i, 4).
 A. ETERNITY
“The Father of lights with whom
there is no variation or shadow due
to change” (James 1:17).
God does not have beginning, or
end, or temporal succession.
Nobody made God: He is ETERNAL
B. IMMENSITY AND UBIQUITY,
OR OMNIPRESENCE
Divine immensity means on the one hand that
God is necessarily present everywhere in space
as the immanent cause and sustainer of
creatures,
and on the other hand that He transcends the
limitations of space, and cannot be
circumscribed or measured or divided by any
spatial relations.
To say that God is immense is only another
way of saying that He is both immanent and
transcendent .
 That God is not subject to spatial limitations
follows from His infinite simplicity.
 In other words God Himself, or the Divine
nature, is in immediate contact with, or
immanent in, every creature -- conserving it
in being and enabling it to act. But while
insisting on this truth we must, if we would
avoid contradiction, reject every form of the
pantheistic hypothesis. Heb. i, 3 iv, 12, 13
Acts, xvii, 24, 27, 28; Eph., i, 23; Col., i, ;6,
17, Ps. cxxxviii, 7-12; Job, xii, 10, etc.
 That God is not subject to spatial limitations
follows from His infinite simplicity.
 LOCATION
(I’ll give you an orange if you tell
me “where” is God)
He is not subject to space or
contained in the universe. He is
much greater than the universe.
He is everywhere and in
everything.
God is Immense and
Omnipresent.
 This is revealed in 1
God Is Love Jn 4:8 and 16.
God revealed himself
as a trinity of persons.
This is one more way
we can understand
God as a communion
of Persons, as Intra-
trinitarian love.
God Is Almighty

Father Almighty.
 God reveals his fatherly omnipotence by
the way he takes care of our needs; by the
filial adoption that he gives us ("I will be a
father to you, and you shall be my sons and
daughters, says the Lord Almighty."):
finally by his infinite mercy, for he displays
his power at its height by freely forgiving
sins (CCC, 270).
 God Is Stronger Than Evil
Faith in God the Father Almighty can be
put to the test by the experience of evil and
suffering. God can sometimes seem to be
absent and incapable of stopping evil. But
in the most mysterious way God the Father
has revealed his almighty power in the
voluntary humiliation and Resurrection of
his Son, by which he conquered evil (CCC,
272).
Example: St Paul at Malta (Acts 28)