The Doctrine of God
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
The very essence of God’s being as He has revealed Himself in the Bible has numerous attributes. These are qualities or characteristics that refer to God’s essential being. For example, in His very being God is eternal. God has always been and always will be. The eternity of God is a faith confession based on the Bible’s testimony. What God is, He has always been. What He is, He will always be. From eternity past and into eternity future, God is unchangingly the same.
In His very essence, God also has revealed Himself as triune or existing as the One true God in three persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In light of this three-ness, our understanding of God’s essential being obviously goes beyond the limits or logic of finite mathematics, in which three-ness and oneness would seem contradictory when describing the same object. However, Jesus gave witness to the unity of the divine trinity when He commissioned His followers to baptize future believers “in the name [singular] of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). Biblical faith properly confesses that God is one in His essence or being and at the same time three in His personhood.
In His essential being, God also is spirit. This fundamental truth is set forth in the terse declaration of John 4:24, “God is Spirit.” Even so, in the miracle of the incarnation, God “became flesh and dwelt among us” in the person of His Son (John 1:14).
Taking our clue from multiple biblical references, we also are to understand that in His essential being, God is holy. This means He is set apart or other than what is earthly, creaturely or sinful. This otherness of God was captured in His instruction to Moses that he was to say to his generation, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Lev. 19:2). This truth was at the heart of the heavenly chorus in Isaiah’s vision in which the seraphim cried, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts” (Isa. 6:3).
To these attributes we might also add that God is infinite or unlimited. His wisdom, power and presence are not circumscribed or limited. He is almighty, all-knowing and everywhere present.
Of course, given the greatness of God, a listing of His attributes could make for a massive list. Such a compilation would include among His divine attributes His goodness and greatness, His loving and caring, as well as being gracious and merciful.
No wonder we often sing, “Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.”
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