1. Systematic Theology I Theology Proper
The Attributes of God
Part I

2. The Definition of the Attributes of God
God’s attributes are the qualities which are inherent in the essence or being of God.
All the members of the Godhead have these qualities in common.
God is perfect, or complete, in each of His attributes. He does not lack anything.
The totality of God’s attributes make up His character. His attributes are the means by which He reveals Himself, His very essence.
These are my own words, in an attempt to make McCune’s statements more clear.

3. The Classification of the Attributes of God
Theologians have used different categories to classify God’s attributes, in order to better understand them and Him.
Absolute/Immanent and Relative/Transitive
Absolute/immanent attributes are those which belong to God’s inner being, how He relates to Himself.
Relative/transitive attributes are the outward revelations of God’s being, how He relates to the universe.
Incommunicable and Communicable Attributes
Incommunicable attributes are those related to God as the Absolute Being, the Self-sufficient One. These belong to God alone.
Communicable attributes are those related to God’s dealings with creation. These may be possessed by men and angels in a limited way.
Non-moral and Moral Attributes
Non-moral attributes belong to the understanding of God and to His power as spirit.
Moral attributes are those that involve moral qualities or are connected with the divine will.

4. The Classification of the Attributes of God
Constitutive and Characterizing Attributes
Constitutive attributes are those which describe what God is.
Characterizing attributes are those which describe what God does.
Multiple Categories (see pp )
Attributes of Greatness and Goodness
Greatness: Self-existence, Infinity, Perfection, Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence, Wisdom, Eternity, Immutability, Incomprehensibility
Goodness: Holiness, Truth, Love, Righteousness, Faithfulness, Mercy, Grace
Multiple categories lists how different theologians have come up with 2 to 6 categories to summarize all that God is and does

5. The Attributes of God’s Greatness
Self-existence
God is absolutely independent of all that is not God and completely distinct from all things created.
God’s self-existence is particularly clear from His name, “I AM” (Exod 3:14).
God’s independent self-existence is also implied in other places, specifically in texts indicating His thoughts (Rom 11:33-34), will (Dan 4:35), power (Ps 115:3), and counsel (Ps 33:11).

6. Excursus: Independent Self-Existence as Impassibility – “Can God Suffer?”
The independence of God is sometimes referred to as God’s impassibility, which emphasizes the fact that God is not affected by things external to Himself.
“He lives in a state of permanent and unalterable blessedness, an infinitely absolute happiness and satisfaction. He is “blessed forever” (Rom 1:25; 9:5), incapable of suffering grief or unhappiness, as humans define and experience them” (McCune, p. 213).

7. The Attributes of God’s Greatness
Infinity
God is not restricted by time (He is eternal) or space (He is omnipresent).
God’s thoughts are too numerous to count (Ps 40:5). His lovingkindness will be built up forever (Ps 89:2).
“How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways” (Rom 11:33).
For the righteous, God’s resources are without limits. For the wicked, His wrath continually abides upon them.
Perfection
God is complete in Himself and lacks nothing.
His knowledge is perfect, His way is perfect, His law is perfect, and His will is perfect.

8. The Attributes of God’s Greatness
Omnipotence
God can do all things that are consistent with His nature and purpose.
Some ways that Scripture expresses this:
Genesis 17:1 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.
Job 42:2 “I know that Thou canst do all things, And that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted.”
Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah Lord God! Behold, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power and by Thine outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for Thee…”

9. The Attributes of God’s Greatness
Omniscience
God’s omniscience speaks of His eternal knowledge of all things past, present and future.
God does not learn. He knows all there is to know and always has. God uses His knowledge for His good purposes.
1 John 3:20 …for God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
Job 28:24 “For He looks to the ends of the earth, And sees everything under the heavens.”
Psalm 139:1-4 O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar. Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down, And art intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, Thou dost know it all.
Isaiah 46:9-10 Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’
God’s knowledge is not like a computer, not just a reservoir of facts. There is a moral dimension to His knowledge.

10. Excursus 1: God’s Knowledge of Possibilities
All possibilities are always known by God.
God knows all possibilities as possibilities (or as ideas) and not necessarily as realities.
God’s knowledge of possibilities is due to His reason and power. He knows in advance of all that He will do according to His plan and purpose.
God’s knowledge of possibilities does not mean that God carries all kinds of useless knowledge of an infinite number of possibilities in His mind.
These excurses are in response to Open Theism, which claims that God learns things, grows in His knowledge, and responds accordingly. Clark Pinnock is a well known proponent.

11. Excursus 2: God’s Knowledge of Human Action
Does God foreknow or foresee the free acts of men?
Absolutely! And he works together those free acts in every circumstance to accomplish His purpose.
“Still, God’s omniscience itself is not causative. It is not predeterministic, but it does assume or presuppose predetermination or predestination” (McCune, p. 228).

12. The Attributes of God’s Greatness
Omnipresence
Omnipresence means that God is present everywhere in the universe at the same time.
He is completely distinct from His creation, but present everywhere in it.
Psalm 139:7 Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence?
Jeremiah 23: "Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD, "And not a God far off? "Can a man hide himself in hiding places, So I do not see him?" declares the LORD. "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the LORD.
See McCune, pp , for the 5 lines along which God’s omnipresence are helpfully explored.

13. The Attributes of God’s Greatness
Omnisapience
God is all-wise. He applies His knowledge is such a way as to achieve the highest ends in order to glorify Himself.
Wisdom is God’s knowledge with moral purpose.
Eternality
God’s existence is not limited by time. He has no beginning or end.
God knows time, for He created it, but He is above time and changeless.
Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

14. The Attributes of God’s Greatness
Immutability
God does not change in His being, His purposes, or His promises. He is incapable of growth or decay.
Malachi 3:6 “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”
James 1:17 Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.
Psalm 33:11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation.

15. Excursus: Can God Change His Mind?
Genesis 6:6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
Exodus 32:14 So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.
Jonah 3:10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.

16. Excursus: Can God Change His Mind?
“The ‘change’ in these texts almost certainly relates to God’s dealings and relationships with changing people. To be sure, in His nature, attitudes, and purposes God remains changeless. A good way to express this is that an unchangeable God must change in His dealings with changeable men in order to remain changeless in His being and character” (McCune, pp ).
Certain prophecies are made with a known, implicit condition, e.g., Jonah’s proclamation concerning Nineveh.

17. The Attributes of God’s Greatness
Incomprehensibility
God cannot be completely known by a finite mind.
Psalm 139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
Job 11:7-9 “Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? They are high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth, And broader than the sea.”
Isaiah 55:9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Incomprehensibility does not mean that God is not knowable; it means that He is not completely knowable.

18. Next Week: The Attributes of God – Part II
Read Chapter 7 in McCune, pp