The Attributes of God. Part Five.

 

The Attributes of God. Part Five.

 

Bible Reading: Genesis 1:1.

^“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

What does it mean that God is just? It means more than He is simply fair. It means He always does what is right and good toward all men. Likewise, although this is hard for many to accept, His sentencing of evil, unrepentant sinners to hell is also right and good. 

A natural question that arises from this is, how then can a just God justify the unjust (as each of us are without Christ!)? His mercy does not forbid God to exercise His justice, nor does His justice forbid God to exercise His mercy. He is both fully merciful and fully just.  

Considering God’s other attributes of goodness, mercy, love and grace, there are some who might, in error, say that God is too kind to punish the ungodly. But to believe this means we dull the reality of His infinite, unchanging justice. God will have justice for sin, either from Christ’s atoning death or, for those who will not accept it, eternal wrath in hell.

R. C. Sproul says: “Let us assume that all men are guilty of sin in the sight of God. From the mass of humanity, God sovereignly decides to give mercy to some of them. What do the rest get? They get justice. The saved get mercy and the unsaved get justice. Nobody gets injustice.” 

 

11. God is Merciful. He is Infinitely, Unchangeably Compassionate and Kind.

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

So, then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” Romans 9:15-16.

 

As noted above, God’s mercy is inseparable from His fairness. He is extremely, unchangeably, unfailingly merciful, forgiving, lovingly kind toward us. He is inexhaustibly, actively compassionate. His mercy is also undeserved by us. Without the mercy of God, we would have no hope of heaven.

Because of our disobedient hearts, we deserve death. “For all have sinned and fall short glory of God,” and, “the wages of sin are death.” But because of mercy, we do not get what we deserve. Instead, because of the mercy of God, we get life through faith in Christ.

 

12. God is Gracious. God is Infinitely inclined to spare the Guilty.

“The LORD is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness” Psalm 145:8.

 

If mercy is not getting what we do deserve (damnation), grace is getting what we do not deserve (eternal life). Tozer writes, “so grace is His goodness directed toward human debt and fault. It is by His grace that God imputes merit where none previously existed and declares no debt to be where one had been before.”

Because grace is a part of who God is and not just an action He bestows, it means we can trust that grace is eternal. His grace is something we do not earn or lose “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…” Ephesians 2:8. His grace is also sovereign. “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious” Exodus 33:19.

When talking about the grace of God, theologians will often distinguish between God’s common grace and His saving grace. Quoting His common grace is a gift to all of mankind. It is the reason that everyone – Christian or non-Christian - enjoys the blessings of life, provision, and abundance.  tells us, “For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” Matthew 5:45.

While all of humanity benefits from common grace, only those who confess their sins, and believe that Jesus died from them and put their faith in Christ receive saving grace. This is what results in our sanctification and our glorification of God, that we might live for Him and enjoy God’s presence for all eternity.

 

13. God is Loving. God Infinitely, Unchangingly Loves Us.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” 1 John 4:7-8.

 

As with all attributes, we can only begin to comprehend God’s love considering His other attributes. The love of God is eternal, sovereign, unchanging, and infinite. Tozer says, “that He has allowed His heart to be emotionally identified with men. Self-sufficient as He is, He wants our love and will not be satisfied till He gets it. … God’s love is active, drawing us to Himself.”

 God’s love is personal, He loves you and me. And His love for us knows no beginning and no end.

 

14. God is Holy. He is Infinitely, Unchangingly Perfect.

“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord Almighty” Revelation 4:8.

 

The word holy means sacred, set apart, revered, or divine. And yet none of those words is acceptable to describe the awesome holiness of our God. The word holiness refers to His separateness, the fact that He is unlike any other being. It indicates His complete and infinite perfection. Holiness is the attribute of God that binds all the others together.

That God is holy means He is endlessly, for ever and ever, always perfect. And His standard for us is perfection as well. “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect,” Jesus says in Matthew 5:48. That is why we need Christ. Without Christ taking the place for us and dying for our sins, we would all fall short of God’s holy standard.

Thankfully, the Christian will never have to experience God’s holy wrath poured out. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, the penalty for our sins was paid and we were credited with Christ’s righteousness. Now, when God looks on us, He sees Christ’s perfect holiness. 

 

15. God is Glorious. He is Infinitely Beautiful and Great.

“His radiance is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, and there is the hiding of His power” Habakkuk 3:4.

 

When we think of the glory of the Lord, the image of brilliant light often comes to our minds. That is certainly fitting, as Scripture often describes the glory of God in terms of a light that shines brighter than anything that we experience on earth.

The glory of God is of course, inseparable from His other attributes, so God is eternally, infinitely, unchangingly glorious. His radiance and beauty spring from all that His is and all that He does. Isaiah 43:7 says that man was created by God for His glory.

So, our whole existence and purpose is to glorify God, as we are created in His image and do the good work, He has prepared for us to do.

 

Conclusion:

 

By learning the attributes of God, you may praise God for who He really is and for how each of His attributes impacts your life in a positive way. 

 

The Attributes of God. Part Four.

 

The Attributes of God. Part Four.

 

Bible Reading: Genesis 1:1.

^“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Matthew 11.25-27 “At that time Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way.” “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

John 17:24-26  ^“Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

 

Because God is self-sufficient, we can go to Him to satisfy all our needs. We never have to worry about “drying up” his never-ending well of goodness, peace, mercy, and grace. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us” Ephesians 3:20.

 

7. God is Wise. He is full of Perfect, Unchanging Wisdom.

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”  Romans 11:33.

 

Wisdom is more than just head knowledge and intelligence. A truly wise person is someone who understands all the facts and makes the best decisions. A wise person uses his heart, soul, and mind together with skill and competence. But even the wisest man on earth would never come close to being as wise as God. God is infinitely wise, consistently wise, perfectly wise.

Tozer says, “Wisdom, among other things, is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve those ends by the most perfect means. It sees the end from the beginning, so there can be no need to guess or conjecture. Wisdom sees everything in focus, each in proper relation to all, and is thus able to work toward predestined goals with flawless precision.”

Indeed, when we see wisdom like this, we realize just how much our limited, finite wisdom compares with the limitless, infinite wisdom of God. And how comforting and wonderful this is for man to dwell on! The fact that God can never be wiser means He is always doing the wisest thing in our lives.

No plan we could make for our lives could be better than the plan He has already crafted and is carrying out for us. We might not understand His ways today, but we can trust that because God is infinitely wise, He truly is working all things out in the best possible way.

 

8. God is Faithful, Truthful, He is Infinitely, Unchangingly True.

“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands” Deuteronomy 7:9.

 

“If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” 2 Timothy 2:13.

As with all of God’s attributes, they are not distinct, isolated qualities but interconnected parts of His perfect whole being. So, His faithfulness cannot be understood apart from His immutability, the fact that He never changes. So, when we read that God remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself, we see these His attributes working together. The fact that He is unchanging means He can never not be faithful.

A. W. Pink says: “God is true. His Word of Promise is sure. In all His relations with His people God is faithful. He may be safely relied upon. No one ever yet really trusted Him in vain. We find this precious truth expressed almost everywhere in the Scriptures, for His people need to know that faithfulness is an essential part of the Divine character. This is the basis of our confidence in Him.”

The fact that God is infinitely, unchangingly faithful means that He never forgets anything, never fails to do anything He has set out to do, never changes His mind or takes back a promise. And His faithfulness pours out from His love, so we can trust Paul’s word that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.”

Of course, we do not always understand or see how His plan is faithful. In our limited understanding and finite (limited, restricted) minds, God’s faithfulness might look a lot like neglect. For how could a faithful God allow His children to suffer, to hurt, to die?

But Christians can take comfort in these moments by remembering these attributes of God, for when we go through hard times, we know that God is nevertheless unchangingly faithful, good, always with us and wise. Faithfully trusting in who God says He is a great comfort. “For now, we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” 1 Corinthians 13:12.

 

9. God is Good. He is Infinitely, Unchangingly Kind, and full of Good Will.

“O, taste and see that the Lord is good” Psalm 34:8.

 

Again, Tozer says: on the goodness of God “disposes Him to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will toward men. He is tender-hearted and of quick sympathy, and His unfailing attitude toward all moral beings is open, frank, and friendly. By His nature He is inclined to bestow blessedness and He takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people.”

Just like His other attributes, God’s goodness exists within His immutability, and infinite nature, so that He is unchangingly, always good. His mercy flows from His goodness. As with God’s other perfect attributes, Christians find it easier to affirm the goodness of God when things are going well.

But, when life takes a nosedive, though, that is when we begin to question God’s goodness to and for us. When the Psalmist writes “O, taste and see that the Lord is good” Psalm 34. He is inviting us not just to believe that God is good but to experience God’s goodness. Even with a good God, who is sovereign over everything and has the power to do whatever He likes, good people still suffer.

 

10. God is Just. He is Infinitely, Unchangeably Right and Perfect in all He does.

“The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He” Deuteronomy 32:4.

End of part four, part five to follow.

 

The Attributes of God. Part Three.

 

The Attributes of God. Part Three.

 

Bible Reading: Genesis 1:1.

^“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

3. God is Omnipresent, Ever-present, He is always Everywhere.

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me” Psalm 139:7-10.

“Am I a God at hand,’ declares the Lord, ‘and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?’ declares the Lord. ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ declares the Lord” Jeremiah 23:23-24.

 

To be omnipresent is to be in all places, always. Yet, it is important to understand that for God “to be” in a place is not the same way we are in a place. He exists on a plane wholly distinguishable (unique, different) from the one readily available to the five senses. Nevertheless, He is with us, the fullness of His presence is all around us.

“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” The psalmist proclaims God’s omnipresence in Psalm 137.

This ought to bring deep comfort to Christians who struggle with loneliness and deep sorrow.

In a very real way, God is always near us, “closer than our thoughts,” writes Tozer. “The knowledge that we are never alone calms the troubled sea of our lives and speaks peace to our soul.”

 

4. God is Infinite, Immeasurable, endless, unlimited, never-ending, vast, Boundless, etc. He is Self-Existing, and without Origin.

“He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together” Colossians 1:17.

 

The fact that God is self-existent, that He was created by nothing and has always existed forever, is perhaps one of the hardest attributes of God for the believer to understand. In our limitedness, grasping the nature of our limit-less God is like holding onto water as it rages down a river.

Again, Tozer says: “To admit that there is One who lies beyond us, who exists outside of all our categories, who will not be dismissed with a name, who will not appear before the bar of our reason, nor submit to our curious inquiries: this requires a great deal of humility, more than most of us possess, so we save face by thinking God down to our level, or at least down to where we can manage Him.”

Dr. Adrian Rogers writes about the self-existence of God: “The name Jehovah is used some 6,800 times in the Bible. It is the personal covenant name of Israel’s God. In the King James Version of the Bible, it is translated Lord God. Not only does it speak of God’s strength, but also it speaks of the sovereignty of God and the goodness of God.”

The root of this name means “self-existing,” one who never came into being, and one who always will be. When Moses asked God, “Who shall I tell Pharaoh has sent me?” God said, “I AM THAT I AM.” Jehovah God is the most powerfully sacred name to Jewish scribes, and many will not even pronounce the name. When possible, they use another name.

 

5. God is Immutable, Final, Unchangeable, He never Changes.

“I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed” Malachi 3:6.

 

God does not change. His attributes are the same from before the beginning of time into eternity:

a.     His character never changes, He never gets “better” or “worse.”

b.    His plans do not change.

c.     His promises do not change.

This ought to be a source of incredible joy for believers. Sam Storm says this about God’s unchanging nature: “All this means, very simply, is that God is dependable! Our trust in Him is therefore a confident trust, for we know that He will not, indeed cannot, change. His purposes are unfailing, His promises sound.”

 

Romans 8:35-39 says it like this: “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

It is because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!

 

6. God is Self-Sufficient, Self-reliant, Self-supporting, Self-contained, He has no Needs.

“The Father has life in Himself, and He has granted that same life-giving power to His Son” John 5:26.

 

As limited humans, we have unbelievable needs, which left unfulfilled, result in death. God, however, has never once needed anything. As Tim Temple says, “God is perfectly complete within His own being.” What does the Bible say?

Genesis 17:1 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai— ‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.”

John 5:26 “The Father has life in Himself, and He has granted that same life-giving power to His Son.” 

Ephesians 3:16 “I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit.”

Because He possesses these immeasurable riches in the perfect knowledge and love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:

 

End of part three, part four to follow.

The Attributes of God. Part Two.

 

The Attributes of God. Part Two.

 

Bible Reading: Genesis 1:1.

^“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Faithfulness: Everything that God has promised will come to pass. His faithfulness guarantees this fact. He does not lie. What He has said in the Bible about Himself is true. Jesus even said that He is the Truth. This is extremely important for the followers of Jesus because it is on His faithfulness that our hope of eternal life rests. He will honour His promise that our sins will be forgiven and that we will live forever with Him.

Mercy: “Mercy is the attribute of God which disposes Him to be actively compassionate.” Since God’s justice is satisfied in Jesus, He is free to show mercy to all those who have chosen to follow Him. It will never end since it is a part of God’s nature.

Mercy is the way He desires to relate to mankind, and He does so unless the person chooses to despise or ignore God at which time His justice becomes the prominent attribute. 

Goodness: “The goodness of God is that which disposes Him to be kind, pleasant, compassionate, and full of good will toward men.” This attribute of God is why He bestows all the blessing He does on His followers. God’s actions define what goodness is, and we can easily see it in the way Jesus related to the people around Him. 

Gracious: God enjoys giving great gifts to those who love Him, even when they do not deserve it. Grace is the way we describe that feeling.

Jesus Christ is the channel through which His grace moves. The Bible says, “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” 

Justice: The Bible says that God is just, but it is His character that defines what being just really is. He does not conform to some outside criteria. Being just brings moral equity to everyone. When there are evil acts, justice demands there be a penalty. Since God is perfect and has never done evil, no penalty would ever be necessary; however, because of His love, God paid the penalty for our evil deeds by going to the cross Himself. His justice needed to be satisfied, but He took care of it for all who will believe in Jesus. 

Wisdom: “Wisdom is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve these ends by the most perfect means.” In other words, God makes no mistakes. He is the Father who truly knows best, as Paul explains in Romans 11:33 “Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His ways!” 

Eternal: In some ways, this fact about God is like His self-existence. God always has been and will forever be because God dwells in eternity. Time is His creation. It is why God can see the end from the beginning, and why He is never surprised by anything. If He were not eternal, God’s promise of eternal life for those who follow Jesus would have little value. 

 

1. God is Omnipotent, Almighty, Unstoppable, Supreme, He is All Powerful.

“The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born” Psalm 33:6.

 

a.     Can you fathom the mysteries of God?

b.    Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?

c.     They are higher than the heavens above, what can you do?

d.    They are deeper than the depths below, what can you know?

e.     Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.

Writes Job.

 

Omnipotent means to have unlimited power (omni = all; potent = powerful). God is able and powerful to do anything He wills without any effort on His part. Ron Moore says: “God’s attribute of omnipotence means that God is able to do all that He desires to do. When He plans something, it will come to be. If He purposes something, it will happen. Nothing can prevent His plan.”

God’s decisions are always in line with His character, and He has all the power to do whatever He decides to do. Scripture is clear that God is strong and mighty, and nothing is too hard for Him to accomplish: 

Genesis 18:14 “Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

Jeremiah 32:17  “O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!

Luke 1:37 “For the word of God will never fail.”

Often God is called “Almighty,” describing Him as the One who possesses all power and authority, (2 Corinthians 6:18; Revelation 1:8). In fact, Paul says that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” Ephesians 3:20.”

John MacArthur says: “Although such power might seem frightful, remember that God is good. He can do anything according to His infinite ability but will do only those things that are consistent with Himself. That is why He cannot lie, tolerate sin, or save unrepentant sinners.”

 

2. God is Omniscient, all-seeing, wise, He is All-Knowing.

“Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please” Isaiah 46:9-10.

 

God is omniscient, which means He knows everything. He can be everywhere, at the same time. And He never sleeps or slumbers, He is aware every moment of every day, exactly what we are up against.

He knows our way and is with us always. There is no place on this earth we can go that He does not see and know of.

Tozer says: “God perfectly knows Himself and, being the source and author of all things, it follows that He knows all that can be known. And this He knows instantly and with a fullness of perfection that includes every possible item of knowledge concerning everything that exists or could have existed anywhere in the universe at any time in the past or that may exist in the centuries or ages yet unborn.”

Because God is all-knowing, we can trust that He knows everything we are going through today and everything we will go through tomorrow. When we think on this truth, especially considering His other attributes of goodness and love, it makes it easier to trust Him with all we have going on in our lives.

 

End of part two, part three will follow.

The Attributes of God. Part One.

 

The Attributes of God. Part One.

 

Bible Reading: Genesis 1:1.

^“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

The Attributes of God, and their meaning.

 

A.W. Tozer says: “Man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.”

It is not enough to follow “god,” that word has come to mean so many different things today that it means very little. So, who is the God of the Bible? What is God’s character or attributes? When we talk about the attributes of God, we are trying to answer questions like:

Who is God?

What is God like?

What kind of God is He? 

It is impossible for us as limited beings to fully understand who God is, but God does make Himself known to us in a variety of ways, and through what He reveals about Himself in His Word and in His creation, we can begin to fill our minds around our awesome Creator and God that He is.

God is unlike anything or anyone we could ever know or imagine. He is one of a kind, unique and without comparison. Even describing Him with mere words truly falls short of capturing who He is, our words simply cannot do justice to describe our holy God.

Still, God possess attributes that we can know (even in just in part) and He is given us His Word to understand Himself.

Here are some of God’s attributes; some are unspeakable, inexpressible, unutterable, beyond words or description, qualities possessed by God alone. But we can do our best to understand them.

 

Attributes of God. Or the Characteristics of God. The Basis.

 

Jesus came to reveal the God of the Bible. And God has revealed Himself in His book. The Bible says to praise God for who He is, especially in prayer. Much of the Psalms is a good example of this. By learning the attributes of God, you may praise God for who He really is and for how each of His attributes impacts your life in a positive way. 

 

Omnipotence: Literally this word means all-powerful. Since God is infinite and since He possesses power, He possesses infinite power. He does allow His creatures to have some power, but this in no way diminishes His own. “He expends no energy that must be replenished.” When the Bible says God rested on the seventh day, it was to set an example for us and our need for rest, not because He was tired. 

 

Omniscience: “God possesses perfect knowledge and therefore has no need to learn. God has never learned and cannot learn.” Omniscience means all-knowing. God knows everything, and His knowledge is infinite. It is impossible to hide anything from God. 

Omnipresence: This theological term means “always present.” Since God is infinite, His being knows no boundaries. So, clearly, He is everywhere. This truth is taught throughout the Bible as the phrase “I am with you always” is repeated 22 times in both the Old and New Testaments. These were even Jesus’ words of assurance just after giving the challenge to His disciples to take His message to the entire world. This is certainly a comforting truth for all who follow Jesus.

 

Infinitude: God knows no boundaries. He is without measure. This attribute impacts all the others. Since God is infinite, everything else about Him must also be infinite. 

Immutability: This simply means that God never changes. It is why the Bible says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” 

 

Self-existence: When Moses asked who he was talking to in the burning bush, God said, “I AM THE ONE WHO ALWAYS IS.” God has no beginning or end. He just exists. Nothing else in all the universe is self-caused. Only God. In fact, if anything else had created Him, that thing would be God.

This is a difficult concept for our minds since everything else we will ever encounter comes from something other than itself. The Bible says, “In the beginning, God.” He was already there. 

Self-sufficiency: The Bible says that God has life in Himself (see John 5:26). All other life in the universe is a gift from God. He has no needs and there is no way He can improve. To God, nothing else is necessary. He does not need our help with anything, but because of His grace and love, He allows us to be a part of advancing His plan on earth and being a blessing to others. We are the ones who change, but never God. He is self-sufficient. Sovereignty: This is “the attribute by which He rules His entire creation.” It is the application of His other attributes of being all-knowing and all-powerful. It makes Him free to do what He knows to be best. God is in control of everything that happens. Man, still has a free will, and is responsible for his choices in life. 

Trinity: Though the actual word is not used in the Bible, the truth of God revealing Himself in three persons is included. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all called God, given worship as God, exist eternally, and are involved in doing things only God could do. Although, God reveals Himself in three persons, God is One and cannot be divided. All are involved completely whenever One of the Three is active. 

 

Holiness: This is the attribute that sets God apart from all created beings. It refers to His majesty and His perfect moral purity. There is absolutely no sin or evil thought in God at all. His holiness is the definition of that which is pure and righteous in all the universe. Wherever God has appeared, such as to Moses at the burning bush, that place becomes holy just for God having been there. 

Love: Love is such an important part of God’s character that the apostle John wrote, “God is love.” This means that God holds the well-being of others as His primary concern. For a full definition of love, read 1 Corinthians 13. To see love in action, study the life of Jesus. His sacrifice on the cross for the sins of others is the ultimate act of love. God’s love is not a love of emotion but of action. His love gives freely to the object of its affection, those who choose to follow His son Jesus. 

 

End of part one, part two to follow.