Question
…, What is God like? What does the Bible say about God's character and qualities?
Analysis
How we know God's attributes
| Source | Description | Texts |
|---|---|---|
| General revelation | Creation displays God's invisible attributes, power, wisdom, divinity | Rom.1.19-20; Psa.19.1 |
| Special revelation | Scripture states God's character explicitly | Heb.1.1-2 |
| Christ | The incarnate Son is the fullest revelation of God | Heb.1.3; Jhn.14.9 |
| The Spirit | Makes Scripture's revelation effective to the reader | 1Co.2.10-14 |
Attributes are derived from God's self-revelation, not speculated. The two canonical OT self-disclosure texts are Exo.34.6-7 (the LORD "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness… but who will by no means clear the guilty") and Exo.3.14 ("I AM WHO I AM").
The incommunicable attributes (unique to God)
| Attribute | Definition | Biblical ground |
|---|---|---|
| Self-existence (aseity) | Exists from himself; needs nothing else | Exo.3.14; Jhn.5.26 |
| Eternality | No beginning or end; beyond time | Psa.90.2; Isa.57.15; Rev.1.8 |
| Immutability | Unchanging in essence | Mal.3.6; Heb.13.8; Jas.1.17 |
| Omnipresence | Everywhere present | Psa.139.7-12; Jer.23.23-24; Act.17.27-28 |
| Omniscience | Knows all things | Psa.147.5; Heb.4.13; 1Jn.3.20 |
| Omnipotence | All-powerful (consistent with his nature) | Gen.18.14; Jer.32.17; Mat.19.26 |
| Sovereignty | Rules over all | Psa.103.19; Dan.4.34-35; Eph.1.11 |
| Simplicity | Not composed of parts | Deut.6.4; Jas.1.17 |
The communicable attributes (shared in creaturely degree)
| Attribute | Definition | Biblical ground |
|---|---|---|
| Holiness | Transcendent otherness + moral purity | Isa.6.3; Lev.11.44; 1Pe.1.16 |
| Love | Self-giving, covenant-faithful care | 1Jn.4.8,16; Jhn.3.16; Rom.5.8 |
| Justice / righteousness | Perfect rectitude; never wrongs anyone | Deut.32.4; Psa.89.14; Rom.3.26 |
| Mercy | Compassion toward the miserable | Exo.34.6; Eph.2.4; Tit.3.5 |
| Grace | Unmerited favor | Eph.2.8; Tit.2.11 |
| Patience / longsuffering | Slow to wrath | Exo.34.6; 2Pe.3.9 |
| Wisdom | Perfect knowledge perfectly applied | Pro.3.19; Rom.11.33; Jas.1.5 |
| Faithfulness | Reliability + covenant loyalty | Lam.3.22-23; 1Co.10.13; 1Th.5.24 |
| Goodness | Moral perfection + benevolence | Psa.34.8; Psa.100.5; Mar.10.18 |
| Truth | Veracity + reliability | Jhn.14.6; Tit.1.2; Heb.6.18 |
The "omni" attributes in focus
The three most-asked-about (from the dedicated deep-dives):
- Omnipotence, God can do whatever is consistent with his nature; … (Gen.18.14); "with God all things are possible" (Mat.19.26). This does not mean God can do logical nonsense (square circles) or act against his nature (he cannot lie, Heb.6.18; Tit.1.2; cannot sin, Jas.1.13). Those aren't limits on power; nonsense isn't a "thing" to be done.
- Omniscience, God knows all things: past, present, future, counterfactual ("what would have happened", Mat.11.21), and the inner heart (Jer.17.9-10; Psa.139.1-6). … (Heb.4.13).
- Omnipresence, … (Psa.139.7); God fills heaven and earth (Jer.23.24); "in him we live and move and have our being" (Act.17.28).
Divine simplicity, the attributes aren't separable parts
The classical doctrine of divine simplicity teaches God is not assembled from attributes the way a creature has traits. Each attribute is identical with God's essence:
| Implication | Description |
|---|---|
| Attributes co-inhere | God's love is holy love; his holiness is loving holiness; his justice is merciful justice |
| God is undivided | You can't pit attributes against each other (love "vs." wrath as rival forces) |
| The cross integrates all | The cross displays love + holiness + justice + mercy + wisdom simultaneously (Rom.3.25-26) |
These all stress that holiness, love, and justice meet, not compete, at the cross.
Contested points (multi-view)
Mainstream Christianity holds the "classical theism" picture; some modern schools revise it. This reference notes the classical view as consensus and flags the debates without endorsing:
| Question | View | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Does God change / suffer? | Classical theism | God is impassible (doesn't suffer) + immutable + simple (Augustinian-Thomistic) |
| Open theism | God is responsive to creation; some divine knowledge of future free acts is limited, a modern departure | |
| Process theology | God is in process with creation; classical attributes heavily revised, far from mainstream | |
| Is divine simplicity strictly true? | Classical / Reformed | Yes, strict simplicity |
| Some modern theologians | Question its absolute formulation | |
| Is God in time or timeless? | Classical | Timeless eternity (outside time) |
| Some modern philosophers | Everlasting within time (Wolterstorff, Swinburne) | |
| Does God exhaustively know the future? | Classical (Calvinist + Arminian + Catholic + Orthodox) | Yes, exhaustively |
| Open theism | Future free choices not yet "there" to be known, minority evangelical view |
Open theism and process theology are significant departures from the mainstream tradition; this reference presents the classical consensus and notes the alternatives where relevant.
The nature of God in one frame
Putting it together, the biblical-classical picture is of one God (Deut.6.4) who is personal, infinite-eternal-unchanging in his being, perfect in every attribute, and (in Christian theology specifically) triune, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one in essence and three in person. His attributes are not a checklist of separate traits but facets of one simple, perfect, undivided being whom Scripture says is fully knowable through revelation yet never exhaustively comprehended (Rom.11.33-36; Isa.55.8-9).