Attributes of God on F.I.R.E.نموونە

Who is God? Can He be described with one definition? No! To the Samaritan woman at the well at Sychar, Jesus reveals, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). The truths about God’s nature are disclosed in His Word. We learn from the psalmist, “The entrance of Your words gives light” (Psalm 119:130). We must dig deeply into the eternal Word to connect the truth and light about the Lord’s nature!

One significant means to better comprehend the incomprehensible God is by studying His attributes or perfections which describe God’s being or person. Traditionally the attributes are studied in two categories: incommunicable and communicable.

Incommunicable attributes of God describe those solely belonging to Him. For example, the attribute of independence, which includes His self-existence, refers to our Lord’s self-sufficiency. In other words, He does not depend upon another for anything. The Father describes Himself as follows: “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). Since God has eternally existed, He is not dependent upon anything else. This attribute belongs to Him alone!

Another incommunicable attribute of God is immutability, which refers to His perfect unchangeability. Consider James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” The Lord’s perfect nature never changes in his being, purposes, or promises.

In this study, we will examine fourteen of God’s communicable attributes. These are His perfections that belong to Him, but that He also shares with us. An example is love. We are told, “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and yet we are commanded to love others. The writer of Hebrews pens, “Let brotherly love continue” (Hebrews 13:1). We are not only to understand God’s loving nature, but also to imitate Him; therefore, the communicable attributes instruct us about the Lord’s character and how we should resemble Him.