5. They are his nature, not fragmentary parts. God is his love, holiness, power, etc. But these attributes are different ways at getting at who God is.
Attributes of Greatness (moral/natural attributes)
I. Spirituality God is Spirit
1. Not matter, does not possess physical nature. John 4.24, God is spirit.
2. Not limited spatially or geographically. John 4.21, not destructible
3. Hands and feet? Anthropomorphisms truth about God with human analogies.
4. Theophanies temporary manifestations of God
5. Spirituality counters the idolatry and nature worship of other religions, God can't be represented with objects or likenesses.
II. Personality God is personal, an individual being, with self-consciousness and will, capable of feeling, choosing, and having reciprocal relationship with other personal and social beings. 1. God has a name by which he reveals himself, "I am" or "I will be" (Yahweh / Jehovah / The Lord, Exodus 3.14).
2. Not an abstract unknowable nameless force, name used to address God.
3. Treat name respectfully (Exod 20.7), names not just to designate because its cute; chosen for their …show more content…
Omniscience - "God is timeless, he does not grow or develop." But he is conscious of succession of time as experienced by humans, aware of each point along the way. All the past, all the present, and all the future.
6. Wisdom God acts in light of all the facts and correctly every time he acts. God knows what is good and does it. Roman 11.33
7. Omnipotence "God is able to do all things which are proper objects of his power. "I am God Almighty." Gen 17.1; Matthew 19.26.
8. Millard Erickson, Therefore, "God's will is never frustrated. What he chooses to do, he accomplishes, for he has the ability to do it . . . God is wise, so he knows what to do; he is good, and thus he chooses to do the right; he is powerful, and therefore he is capable of doing what he wills to do."
a. Cannot arbitrarily do anything whatsoever that we may conceive of. Only do things which are proper objects of his power, not logically absurd or contradictory: square circles or four cornered triangles, not undo the past, not untrue to his nature (cruel or unconcerned).
b. These inabilities are not weaknesses but strengths, inability to do evil or lie is positive.
c. God is free to make promises, but then he will keep them once he made them