Have you ever thought through what makes God, God? The last post attempted to explain summarily what the Bible teaches as His Trinitarian essence. Of course, there are pages upon pages and many chapters devoted to that exercise in countless systematic theological volumes. However, the Trinity is not the only way God describes Himself. In Scripture, He gives specific attributes of Himself for humanity to know Him as He is. This post will address six attributes with practical implications: omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, holiness, wrath, and mercy.
Omnipotence simply means “all-powerful,” omni (all), potent (powerful). Charles Hodge comments to understand this concept, one must remove all human notions of power because a human cannot will a book into existence. When one does this, one understands God’s omnipotence. Hodge states, “We can do very little. God can do whatever He wills. We, beyond very narrow limits, must use means to accomplish our ends. With God means are unnecessary. He wills, and it is done” (Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology:1, 407). This thought is the highest conceivable idea of omnipotence presented in Scripture (Gen. 17:1, Psa. 115:3, Jer. 32:17, Matt. 19:26).
The implication for understanding God’s omnipotence is that nothing and no one is above His almighty power. Brakel states, “And you, children of God, let the omnipotence of God encourage your hearts. If God is for you, who can be against you? Do you have any corporal needs and know not how to meet them? Even if there are no means available, God has the answer. He requires no means, and if the Lord desires to avail Himself of means, He will bring them about and make them available to you” (Wilhelmus À Brakel, The Christians Reasonable Service:1, 132). John Frame states, “But we are confident that he can do everything Scripture describes him as doing, and much more. And we know that the only preventers are his own truth, righteousness, faithfulness, and so on. That fact should assure us that God is entirely competent to accomplish all his righteous, loving purposes” (John Frame, The Doctrine of God, 523). God’s power resides in creating and sustaining the world and His bringing into being possibilities beyond this world, redeeming sinful humanity, and changing hearts and lives.
Omniscience simply means “all-knowing,” omni (all), science (knowledge). The Bible presents God as knowing all things (1 Sam. 2:3, 2 Chron. 16:19Job 21:22, Psalm 84:10-11, Rom. 11:33, 1 John 3:20). This term includes His natural knowledge and His free knowledge. Smith explains, “God’s natural knowledge of himself is part of his essence. It is not communicable to the creatures. The free knowledge of God also comes out of his eternal thought” (Morton Smith, Systematic Theology, 138). Thus, the extent of God’s knowledge is infinite and universal (Psa. 147:4-5), and it is something human minds cannot comprehend (Job 11:7-9).
The implication for understanding God’s omniscience rests in His controlling all nature and history in a perfectly wise plan. As John Frame states, “His wise plan constitutes knowledge—knowledge of everything, omniscience. His knowledge is just as extensive as his lordship” (Frame, 483). Greg Nichols states, “In the seasons of perplexity and trial, we should dwell on God’s supreme knowledge. We should compare our knowledge with his until we sense afresh just how little we know” (Greg Nichols, Lectures in Systematic Theology:1, 311). This attribute of God should bring shame and confession for one’s sin (Ezra 9:6, Psa. 90:8, Luke 18:13), humility (1 Pet. 5:5), and obedience to walk rightly (Psa. 10:14, 16:8; Prov. 3:6).
Omnipresence simply means “everywhere present,” omni (all), presence (present). This word includes the aspect of the infinity of God. As Hodge explains, “The infinitude of God, so far as space is concerned, includes his immensity and his omnipresence. These are not different attributes, but one and the same attribute, viewed under different aspects. His immensity is the infinitude of his being, viewed as belonging to his nature from eternity. He fills immensity with his presence. His omnipresence is the infinitude of his being, viewed in relation to his creatures. He is equally present with all his creatures, at all times, and in all places. He is not far from any one of us” (Hodge, 383).
The implication for God’s omnipresence is that He is not far from us (Acts 17:24). Smith states that “we should recognize that the Bible also represents God as intimately related to the world of space that he has made” (Smith, 135). John Frame states, “Therefore, he has sovereign control over his visible manifestations. But his presence in space (together with his presence in time) enables him to share the creature’s perspective, giving him full access to creaturely perspectives” (Frame, 738). God’s omnipresence should bring one reverent humility before Him (Psa. 139:3-5). It also should be continual support and comfort in all life’s ups and downs, for nothing will happen contrary to His will (Psa. 23:4, Isa. 43:2).
Holiness simply means “separate.” Smith explains that the term “‘holiness’” translates the Hebrew qadosh, which is from the root qadash.” He continues, “As One who is separate from the world, holiness may be understood as referring to the transcendence and uniqueness of God. In other words, it is a reference to the majesty of God, to his deity, that which distinguishes the Creator from the creature” (Isa. 6:1-5, Rev. 15:4) (Smith, 139). God is not only separate from the world, but He is separate from sin, i.e., He is righteously pure (Lev. 11:44, Hab. 1:13, 1 Pet. 1:15-16). Again, Smith states, “The two aspects of holiness complement each other. His majesty and purity go together” (Smith, 140).
God’s holiness implies that He requires it of humanity (Matt. 5:48, 1 Pet. 1:15-16). Frame states, [God’s Word] “reveals human obligations and therefore what we would call human responsibilities. Human responsibility (accountability) means that human beings are subject to God’s evaluation and therefore are under obligation to obey his commands and observe his standards” (Frame, 120). Since holiness is the pure essence of the character of God (Psa. 105:3, 1 John 1:5), one may receive His delight (Jer. 9:24, Prov. 11:20) or curse (Hab. 1:13, Psa. 5:4-5).
The “curse” of not being holy is that of His wrath. Simply stated, God’s wrath is the punitive justice of God (Heb 12:29). Smith says, “This is an expression of God’s holy righteousness against sin. God does not hold the guilty innocent” (Exo. 20:7; Nah 1:3) (Smith, 144). Paul teaches there is a revelation from heaven of God’s universal wrath against sinners (Rom. 1:18). And as Beeke and Smalley state, “This judgment comes through God’s acts in history, such as giving sinners over to corrupting desires and a worthless mind-set as a judgment for rejecting him” (Rom 1:22-32) (Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley, Reformed Systematic Theology:1, 200).
The implication of God’s present wrath is to serve as a warning for the wrath that is yet to come (Rev. 8-9). Whatever God does is just (Deut. 32:4, Rom. 2:5-6). Humanity knows that wickedness deserves punishment. Therefore, one should view God’s wrath as a necessary consequence. Brakel explains, “Thus, God by virtue of His perfect, holy, and righteous character is inclined as the only wise God to punish sin at a time and in a manner suitable to Him” (Brakel, 128). He continues, “Please consider there can be no hope of grace and salvation without the satisfaction of the justice of God, that is, by the enduring of punishment” (Brakel, 129). And as Smith concludes, “The wrath and judgment of God are always expressed in accord with his holiness, and for his own glory” (Smith, 146).
God’s mercy is an expression of His grace-filled love (Ex. 34:5-7, Psa. 86:15). Mercy is an extension of God’s grace. As Smith states, “Grace is a term to speak of God’s goodness displayed at those who deserve nothing but evil” (Smith, 144). Mercy is also an extension of God’s love. As Hodge explains, “The manifestation of the goodness (i.e., “mercy”) of God in the form of love, and specially of love to the undeserving, is, as just stated, the great end of the work of redemption” (John 3:16, 1 Joh 4:10) (Hodge, 427-428). And then Beeke and Smalley teach, [Merciful] “is related to the term for a mother’s ‘womb’ (rekhem) and expresses the compassion of a mother (or father) for a child (Isa. 49:15)” (Beeke and Smalley, 784).
God’s mercy implies that He “is not insensitive to us in our weaknesses and troubles, but responds to our miseries with tender pity (Psa. 116:3-5; Isa. 49:10)” (Beeke and Smalley, 784). Another Hebrew word, hesed (used 245 times in Scripture and often as “mercy”), is synonymous with covenant faithfulness. Frame explains, “Like other attributes of goodness, hesed, is part of the definitive exposition of the name of Yahweh in Exodus 34:6” (Frame, 437). He continues, “Hesed is God’s faithfulness to his covenant promise, his truthfulness to his word, the fact that he will bless his people as he says he will. So to plead God’s ‘mercies’ (hesed) is to plead the promise of the covenant” (Frame, 439).
Ultimately, God’s mercy to humanity occurs only from His wrath upon His Son, Jesus Christ. The most significant implication of all these attributes is that God cannot deny Himself, and thus His mercy does not negate His justice. Mercy is not incompatible with justice but confirms it. Brakel explains, “This is the grace [mercy] of God so highly exalted in His Word – that God, without finding anything in man, yes, contrary to his desert, gave His Son as a Surety. He transferred the sins of the elect from their account to His and by bearing punishment [wrath] justly due upon their sin, satisfied the justice of God on their behalf” (Brakel, 129). Mercy is when God leads a sinner in the way of holiness to salvation by imparting wrath upon His Son.
Exploring these six attributes teaches that one cannot possibly know everything about God. This post only scratched the surface of the attributes discussed. Yet, God is merciful enough to show enough of Himself for salvation. They teach that one can always depend upon God. The God who created the world is the God who sent His Son to die for sinners. In all His attributes, His truth is perfect and complete. He will always be all these things so that one can know Him, trust Him, and love Him in complete confidence.
Andrews PCA 