Walking By Faith | We Only Have Access to What God Chooses to Reveal

"Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.."  - Psalm 115:3

As you read the Bible, you might notice some words that keep appearing when the subject of God is mentioned, such as: Infinite, Immutable, Self-Sufficient, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent, for example. 

These identifiers or adjectives describe "attributes of God." An attribute of God is a belief or idea that is factual about him; distinguishing and setting God apart from all else. These characteristics or qualities reveal who God is.

For you and I, as finite beings, to fully understand God is inconceivable. Graciously, God reveals himself by various means. In this way, what he makes known about Himself both, in his Word and creation, we slowly begin to accept and embrace.

Briefly, His attributes can be separated into two classifications. These are: incommunicable attributes, or traits that God doesn’t “disclose” to others; and communicable attributes or traits that God “shares” with us.

To help make this a little easier to understand, listed below are a few instances of both. God's incommunicable attributes can include his:

• Eternal nature (he is infinite, but we are finite)
• Unchangeableness (he never changes, but we do)
• Omnipresence (God is everywhere at once, but we can only be in one place at a time)

Some of God’s communicable attributes may include his:

• Love (God is love, and we’re capable of love)
• Knowledge (God has knowledge, and we can have it, too)
• Mercy (God is merciful, and we’re also capable of mercy)
• Justice (God is just, and we’re capable of justice)

-from Systematic Theology, by Wayne A. Grudem

Obviously, this is not a comprehensive examination of the attributes of God by any means. Even so, I might add that God's attributes do not follow an exact pattern. Neither attribute mentioned above is completely one or the other.

As an illustration, no matter how much wisdom we acquire, we can never surpass God's wisdom. Another is that regardless of much we might experience and express love, we could never surpass God's infinite love.

In this sense, perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that God's communicable attributes are "shared to a degree" with us.  My intent here in this message is to propose that an in-depth study of this topic is worth your time.

We've only examined a smidgen of this topic with so much more left to discover and/or understand. There is no higher calling, greater importance, and practical value to the Christian than the study of God's nature and calling; namely, his attributes.

Scripture: 1 Samuel 2:2; Malachi 3:6; Ephesians 4:7; Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17 

Prayer: "There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God."  - 1 Samuel 2:2

Sincerely with the Grace of God,

Sloane