Attributes of God
This paper names and gives short descriptions of many of the attributes of God and Bible verses associated with each attribute. It is my desire that each person who receives this list would take a year to study them including all of the verses associated with each one.
The God of the Bible, and our God, is…
SOVEREIGN
God personally wills the kind of history and creation that comes to pass; chance is excluded, for He is the ultimate cause of all things. His absolute authority is the formal object of our obedience. Rev. 4:11; Psalm 103:19; Isaiah 46:9-11; Romans 11:34-36; Psalm 47:7.
“And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” Daniel 4:35.
GOOD
Because of His inherent goodness, God provided for all of man's needs in creation. In spite of man's sin and unthankfulness, God still shows His goodness toward us. Psalm 34:8; 107:8,15,21,32; 119:68; Isaiah 63:7. Acts 14:15-17.
WISE
This refers to the wisdom of God. Wisdom differs from knowledge; "Knowledge is what is known, wisdom is the discerning, intelligent application and perfect display of knowledge in plan and purpose." Psa. 104:24; Proverbs 3:19; 8:22-31; Romans 11:33; 16:27.
RIGHTEOUS
His moral character is the standard in all the cosmos for what is right and wrong. Exodus 9:27; Jeremiah 9:24, 12:1; Deut. 32:4; Revelation 16:5-7.
JUST
This refers to His uncompromising attitude of judgment upon evil, regardless of
who might be involved. Gen. 18:25; Romans 2:11; Rev. 16:5-7.
“He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” Deuteronomy 32:4.
HOLY
Perfectly pure; immaculate, moral character; separated to the service of God. Ex. 15:11 & Jer. 2:3; Heb. 7:26; Proverbs 9:10; Habakkuk 1:12,13
“For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” Leviticus 11:45.
OMNISCIENT
This means that God has total knowledge of all things actual and possible for all times and in all locations, including the "what ifs." 1 Samuel 16:7, Psa. 139:2,5; Matthew 6:8; 11:21-23; Hebrews 4:13. I John 3:20
“O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.” Psalm 139:1, 2.
OMNIPRESENT
God is completely present at every point in space. Though He is infinite, He is here now. There is no need to "practice the presence of God" as though one has to imagine He is here -- He is here! 1 Kings 8:27; Psalm 16:8; 139:7-12; Prov. 15:3; Jeremiah 23:23; Matt. 19:26; Acts 17:27-28.
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?” Psalm 139:7.
OMNIPOTENT
This means that God can do anything compatible with His character. He never exhausts His energy and therefore never needs sustenance from outside Himself, as every creature does. Psalm 62:11; 136; Jeremiah 32:17, 27; Ephesians 3:20; Revelation 19:6.
“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27.
IMMUTABLE, UNCHANGING,
God's character is forever perfectly stable. This stability, however, is personal, not some eternally static structure of the Greek philosophers. His promises to us are backed up with His eternally stable character. Truth can exist because He never changes. Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 6:17-18; 13:8; James 1:17.
“For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6.
MERCIFUL
“Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.” Joel 2:12, 13.
LONGSUFFERING
“Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” I Timothy 1:16.
LOVE
He gives all He can to those whom He loves. He has initiated a relationship with His creatures. They must, therefore, respond positively or negatively. Deuteronomy 4:37; John 3:16; 1 John 3:16; 4:8,16; Rom. 5:5.
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” I John 4:10.
Accommodating
“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” II Corinthians 8:9.
ETERNAL
“Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” Psalm 90:1, 2.
JEALOUS
“For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Exodus 34:14.
Wrathful
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” Romans 1:18.
FAITHFUL
“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.” Deuteronomy 7:9.
VERACITY
God, who cannot lie, is absolutely truthful. He will never deviate from His truth. He is who He says He is. Jesus Christ, who is God, is incarnate truth (John 14:6). Numbers 23:19; Psalm 117:2; 146:6; Titus 1:2.
INCOMPREHENSIBLE
Man, being finite, will never be able to fully comprehend and understand God's ways or thoughts. Job 37:5,23; Isaiah 55:8,9; Romans 11:33; Deut. 29:29; Job 38- 40.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8, 9.
INFINITE
The infinity of God means that He, not the created cosmos, is the ultimate reference point; He alone is absolutely free and independent; all else is free only within His creation, design, and sovereign plan, and is totally dependent upon Him (the Creator-creature distinction - an extremely important point concerning today’s New Age philosophy and paganism). There is no need for any "extra gods" to take care of some unexplained residue.
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?” I Kings 8:27.
I AM
God is self-existent and needs nothing outside of Himself to sustain Himself (closely fits description of being “infinite”).
“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Exodus 3:14
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The descriptions of attributes where given were composed primarily by Charles Clough, http://www.bibleframework.com/site/home/) BS, MIT; Th.M, DTS; MS. Texas Tech.
Along with Bobby Ballinger
we took the liberty to add a few attributes and modify some of the
descriptions. Other attributes: Self-Existent, Immensity, Grace, Mercy,
Perfection, etc. (Excellent book: The Attributes of God, A. W. Tozer)
In : Knowing God