Presentation on theology of God proper by Todd Linn, PhD; Attributes of God

1. THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

2. HOW CAN WE KNOW
GOD?
We learn about
God by
studying Him.
The Bible
teaches us
about His
characteristics.

3. TO KNOW GOD IS TO STUDY
HIS “ATTRIBUTES”

4. What is an
“Attribute?”
✞ Easy Definition:
Something that describes God
✞ Deeper Definition:
An essential property of God
which God could not lose and
continue to be God

5. There are two types of
attributes
■ COMMUNICABLE attributes of God
■ INCOMMUNICABLE attributes of God

6. COMMUNICABLE
ATTRIBUES
✞ Communicable Attributes are those
properties of God that are shared by us
to a limited degree.
✞ i.e., they are the properties that God
has, that we also have—to some
degree.

7. Communicable Attributes:
■ Holiness
■ Love
■ Mercy
■ Justice
■ Truth
■ Grace

8. INCOMMUNICABLE
ATTRIBUTES
✞ Incommunicable Attributes are those
properties of God that are true of God
alone.
✞ i.e., we do not have these properties.

9. Incommunicable
Attributes:
■ Sovereignty
■ Omnipresence
■ Infinity
■ Omniscience
■ Eternality
■ Immutability
■ Omnipotence

10. Communicable Attributes
■ HOLINESS
■ “God is unique and morally pure”
Leviticus 11:44,
“For I am the LORD your God. You shall
therefore consecrate yourselves, and you
shall be holy; for I am holy.”
Our Response?
WE SHOULD BE HOLY BECAUSE GOD IS HOLY

11. Communicable Attributes
■ LOVE
“God actively seeks our highest good &
welfare”
1 John 4:7-8,
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is
of God; and everyone who loves God is born
of God and knows God. He who does not
love does not know God, for God is love.”

12. ■ Our Response to God’s Love?
We are commanded to respond to
God’s love for us by proving our love
for Him in the process of loving others
(seeking their best interest).

13. Communicable Attributes
■ MERCY
“God does not give us what we
deserve.”
Psalm 103:13,
“As a father pities his children, so the
LORD pities those who fear Him.”

14. ■ Our Response to God’s Mercy?
■ We are continually humbled in the
understanding that God deals with us
in mercy and we are exhorted to follow
God’s example by treating others with
mercy.

15. Communicable Attributes
■ JUSTICE
“God is lawful and impartial.”
Psalm 19:9,
“The judgments of the LORD are true
and righteous altogether.”

16. ■ Our Response to God’s Justice?
■ We are comforted and challenged in
knowing we will be judged fairly and
impartially by God and we are
encouraged to treat others fairly and
impartially.

17. Communicable Attributes
■ TRUTH
“God is faithful and reliable.”
Numbers 23:19,
“God is not a man, that He should lie,
nor a son of man, that He should
repent. Has He said, and will He not
do? Or has He spoken, and will He not
make it good?”

18. ■ Our Response to God’s Truth?
■ Since God is true, His Word is inerrant and
trustworthy, and therefore we have strong
encouragement in awaiting the certain
fulfillment of all God’s promises. Since God
is true, we as His people should live lives of
truthfulness in the things we say and the
way we behave.

19. Communicable Attributes
■ GRACE
“God gives us what we do not
deserve.”
Exodus 34:6,
“And the LORD passed before him and
proclaimed, ‘the LORD, the LORD God,
MERCIFUL and gracious . . .”

20. ■ Our Response to God’s Grace?
■ We are continually humbled in the
knowledge that our salvation is purely
a matter of God’s grace and not our
works, and our desire to live to please
God is motivated by grace and not law
(Ephesians 2:8-9).

21. Time for a little levity!
• Proverbs 25:17,
• “Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s
house—too much of you, and he will
hate you.”
• An Illustration . . .

23. INCOMMNUNICABLE
ATTRIBUTES
■ SOVEREIGNTY
“Absolute Rule.”
Psalm 115:3,
“. . . Our God is in heaven; He does
whatever He pleases.”

24. ■ Our Response to God’s Sovereignty?
■ We are assured that His purposes will
be accomplished.
■ This was Job’s response: “I know that
You can do everything, and that no
purpose of Yours can be withheld from
You (Job 42:2).

25. INCOMMUNICABLE
ATTRIUBTES
■ OMNIPRESENCE
“God is Everywhere”
Jeremiah 23:23-24,
“‘Am I a God near at hand,’ says the LORD,
‘And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide
himself in secret places, so I shall not see
him?’ says the LORD; ‘Do I not full heaven
and earth?’ says the LORD.”

26. ■ Our Response to God’s Omnipresence?
■ It is COMFORTING knowing that God is
ALWAYS with us!
■ But it’s also CONVICTING knowing that
God is ALWAYS with us!

27. INCOMMUNICABLE
ATTRIBUTES
■ ASEITY
“Self-Existence.”
Revelation 1:8,
“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the Beginning and the End,’ says the
Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is
to come, the Almighty.’”

28. ■ Our Response to God’s Aseity?
■ The realization of our utter
dependence on God who is the cause
of our existence and the reason we
continue to exist.

29. INCOMMUNICABLE
ATTRIBUTES
■ INFINITY
“Without Limits.”
Romans 11:33,
“Oh, the depths of the riches both of
the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments
and His ways past finding out!”

30. ■ Our Response to God’s Infinity?
■ We are assured that God can do
anything and meet any need we have.

31. INCOMMUNICABLE
ATTRIBUTES
■ OMNISCIENCE
“God is All-Knowing”
Psalm 139:1-2,
“O LORD, You have searched me and
known me. You know my sitting down
and my rising up; You understand my
thought afar off.”

32. ■ Our Response to God’s Omniscience?
■ We can feel secure and comforted by
realizing God sees and knows
everything. We should be challenged
to think and act at all times as if we
lived in public, for God is always our
audience.

33. INCOMMUNICABLE
ATTRIBUTES
■ ETERNALITY
“God is Timeless”
Psalm 90:2,
“Before the mountains were brought
forth, or ever You had formed the
earth and the world, even from
everlasting to everlasting, You are
God.”

34. ■ Our Response to God’s Eternality?
■ We are assured that God has no time
limits and that His purposes cannot be
frustrated by time and space.

35. INCOMMUNICABLE
ATTRIBUTES
■ IMMUTABILITY
“God is Unchangeable”
James 1:17,
“Every good and perfect gift is from
above, and comes down from the
Father of lights, with whom there is no
variation or shadow of turning.”

36. ■ Our Response to God’s Immutability?
■ We can have complete trust in God
because His promises will be kept and
His nature will not change.

37. INCOMMUNICABLE
ATTRIBUTES
■ OMNIPOTENCE
“God is All-Powerful”
Matthew 19:26,
“ . . . With God all things are possible.”

38. ■ Our Response to God’s Omnipotence?
■ We should be humbled and comforted
as we trust and serve God who can
accomplish whatever He pleases and
who is not hindered by human
limitations.

39. INCOMMUNICABLE
ATTRIIBUTES
■ IMMATERIALITY
“God is a Spirit”
John 4:24,
“God is Spirit, and those who worship
Him must worship in spirit and in
truth.”

40. ■ 1 Timothy 1:17,
“Now to the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, to God who alone is wise, be
honor and glory forever.”
■ Our Response to God’s Immateriality?
■ The basis of our faith and life is the
unseen spiritual world, which is “more
real” than our physical, material world.

41. CONCLUSION
■ Learning God’s
attributes means we
can better praise
God
■ Take time each day
this week to Praise
Him for Who He is
and What He does!