• A Brief History
• Sister Churches

• The Nature of a Church
• Qualifications for Church Membership
• How to Constitute a Church Today
• How Members Are Received Into a Church
• Articles of Faith
• The Baptist Church Covenant
• God's Attributes
• The Holy Scriptures
• The Incarnation
• God's Decrees
• The Creation
• Satan and the Angels
• The Fall and the Law
• Harmony of the Law and Gospel
• A Gospel Church
• Foreknowledge
• Election
• Predestination
• Blood Redemption
• Our Calling
• Regeneration
• Repentance and Faith
• Justification
• Sanctification
• Adoption
• The Work of Christ
• Sunday
• Civil Government
• Marriage and the Home
• Baptism
• The Lord's Supper
• Officers of a Church
• Duties Members Owe the World
• Duties Members Owe Each Other
• Church Discipline
• Baptist Church Perpetuity
• Biblical Missions
• The World to Come
• Jacob's Trouble
• Restoration of Israel
• The Millennial Kingdom
• The Final State
• Church Business
• Church Finance
• The Baptist Name
• Baptist History
• Baptist Cooperation
• Church Government
• Independence of a Church
• Other Denominations
• Why Be a Baptist

God's Attributes

“For I am God, and there is none else” (Is 45:22).  Belief in the existence of a divine being is almost universal.  There are very few people who profess to believe that there is no God.  The Bible characterizes such people as fools, (Ps. 53:11). “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork” (Ps 19:1).

While most people acknowledge the existence of God, they differ widely in their con­ception of Him.  The false imaginations of man have produced the following concepts of God (we will not have space or time to explain them all): deism, atheism, skepticism, infidelity, ag­nosticism, pantheism and polytheism.  Then there is “theism,” the belief in the exis­tence of a personal God - Creator, Preserver and ruler of all things. Also “monotheism”, this view teaches that there is but one God: Christianity, Judaism and Mohammed­anism are monotheistic religions.

Today we have the Bible to reveal to us God and His attributes, but for thousands or years it was not so.  God personally revealed Himself through dreams, visions, angelic vis­itations, and theophany (visible manifestations of God in human form) to Adam, Cain, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, as well as to prophets, priests and kings in the Old Testament.  If we are among those who have received knowledge of God from our parents, we are most blessed.  This is a source of God knowledge that is often overlooked.  The scriptures do not attempt to prove God’s existence – it is taken as a fact – Gen. 1:1; Rom. l:l9-2l,28,32; 2:15.  The existence of God apart from His revelation is incapable of direct proof.  There is a five-fold argument by indirect proof for the divine existence:

1.      The Cosmological argument, or argument from change in nature.

2.      The Teleological argument, or argument from order or useful arrangement in nature.

3.      The Anthropological argument, or argument from man's mental and moral nature.

4.      The Christological argument - from the Greek word “Christos” - the anointed  i.e. the Messiah.

5.      The argument from Congruity - Congruity refers to a state of logical or practical agreement or harmonious relationship.

Then there is the test of faith. In John 20:29  “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” We must have faith, but the evolutionist must have even more faith – he has no evidence on which to base his beliefs; especially considering the first and second laws of thermodynamics.

Man is not confined to a single method of obtaining knowledge.  He arrives at truth through sensation.  He is taught it by experience.  He believes testimony.  He is conscious of himself.  But he is also so constituted as to certain truths, that they are self-evident upon an intelligent conception of what is meant by them.  So we arrive at what is known as our innate knowledge of biblical truth. We cannot know God fully. We may know certain things about God, bits and pieces until we say that we do know God.

When we use the word “God,” there is no question as to the meaning.  We are thinking of the one Supreme Being, Creator and Sovereign of all things.  But in the conception of the people of old, there were many gods (I Cor. 8:5,6).  God gave himself a name by which he was to be known. as distinct from other gods:  “I am Jehovah, that is my name” (Is. 42:8), also Ex. 3:14; Gen. 22:14 and many others verses.  God has a personal, descrip­tive and sacred name.

In Exodus 3:14 we read,  “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.”  God exists outside time and space as we know it.  When He says, “I AM,” He is not saying, “I was, I am, and I will be.”  He is letting us know that He IS, present tense.

What kind of being is God? Dr. Strong said, “God is the Infinite and perfect Spirit, in whom all things have their source, support and end.”

1.      Spirit - John 4:24 “God is spirit.”  God is not a superman, with a body of flesh; He is a Spirit being. As Spirit, God is a living God. As the living God, He not only has life in Himself, He is the source of life. As Spirit, God is a personal God. a self-conscious, self-determining, and moral being.

2.      Light - 1Jn. 1:5 “God is light.”  light symbolizes wisdom and purity.  God is an all-wise and perfect being.

3.      Love - I Jn. 4:16 “God is love.”  The great and holy God is a God of love.  To know that this great and holy God is a God of love kindles hope in the sinners heart.  The supreme manifestation of His love was in the gift of His Son, (1Jn. 4:9).  Here is where the Liberals quit – with “God is love” – but, if you don’t receive His Son, you don’t receive His love either.

4.      Consuming fire - Heb. 12:29 “God is a consuming fire.”  God is not only a God of love, but a God of righteousness as well.  Men cannot trifle with God, and then escape His righteous judgments (Ps. 103:8-18; Matt. 13:41,42: 25:41; Mark 9:43-48).

The foundation of all true knowledge of God must be a clear mental apprehension of His perfection as revealed in Holy Scripture.  An unknown god can be neither trusted, nor served, nor worshipped.  God is only truly known in the soul as we yield ourselves to Him, submit to His authority, and regulate all the details of our lives by His holy precepts and commandments (Hosea 6:5; Jn. 7:17).  The attributes of God are those peculiarities which mark or define the mode of His existence, or which con­stitute His character.  We call them attributes because we are compelled to attribute them to God, or fundamental qualities or powers of His being, in order to give acc­ount of certain constant facts in God's self-revelations.  By example, holy acts and words, must have their source in a principle of holiness; truthful acts and words, in a settled proclivity to truth; and benevolent acts and words, in a benevolent disposition.

According to Dr. Augustus Strong we will just take the space to list God's Absolute and Relative attributes.  To fully explain these attributes of God could take a year's course of study in itself.

1. Absolute or Immanent attributes:

    A. Spirituality, involving                     (a) life, (b) personality

    B. Infinity, involving               (a) self-existence, (b) immutability, (c) unity,

    C. Perfection, involving                     (a) truth, (b) love, (a) holiness.

2. Relative or Transitive attributes:

    A. Related to Time and Space          (a) eternity, (b) immensity,

    B. Related to Creation                      (a) omnipresence, (b) omniscience, (c) omnipotence,

    C. Related to moral Beings               (a) veracity and faithfulness, (b) mercy and goodness,

                                                            (c) justice and righteousness.

In our remaining space let us briefly consider just a few of the attributes of God.

1.      The Solitariness of God.  “1n the beginning, God” (Gen. 1:1).  There was a time when God (as the trinity) dwelt all alone.  There was nothing, no one but God from everlasting.  God was alone; self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied, and in need of nothing.

2.      The Knowledge of God.  God is omniscient.  He knows everything possible of the past, the present, and the future.  Nothing escapes His notice.  His knowledge is perfect (Heb. 4:13).

3.      The Supremacy of God.  The absolute and universal supremacy of God is plainly and positively affirmed in many scriptures (1Chron. 29:11-12; Job 25:15; Ps. 115:5). God is supreme over nature and men in every aspect, as such He is sovereign in the matter of our final destiny.

4.      The Holiness of God.  He only is independently, infinitely, immutably holy. Rev. 15:4 singles out this perfection because it is a fuller expression of Himself than anything else (Ps. 30:4; 89:35).

5.      The Infinity of God.  He is unbounded, unlimited, unsearchable, immeasurable, incomparable, and incomprehensible.  Big words to describe a great and glorious God.  God is so great that “all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing…” (Dan. 4:35).  See also 2Pet. 3:8; Dan 7:13 (He is the “ancient of days,” but not ancient in days); Ps. 102:24-27; Rom. 1:20; Acts 15:18.

6.      The Omnipresence of God.  He is everywhere (Deut. 4:39; Ps. 139:8; Pro. 15:3; Jer. 23:24).

7.      The Independence of God. He is self-sufficient (Rom. 11:34-36; John 1:13; James 1:18; Ps. 19:1).

8.      The Immutability of God.  He is unchangeable (Mal. 3:6; James 1:17; Is. 40:28; 14:24; Job 23:13; Ps. 33:11; 136; Pro. 19:21; Titus 1:2).

9.      The Power of God. He is omnipotent (Job 23:13; 26:14; Pro. 21:1; James 4:12).