The Attributes of God

Posted within these threads previously, this thread will attempt to delineate the attributes of God in an outline fashion. This does not address the absolute essence of His being, nor attempt to address the same. His existence is here assumed. Scripture is the only source of revelation regarding His essence, which, in and of itself, does not exclude further future relevation. For now, the revelation of God through Scripture is deemed necessary, adequate and required for man's complete edification.

Those revealed attributes of God include:
Sovereignty Righteousness
Justice Love
Eternal life Omnipresence
Omniscience Omnipotence
Immutability Veracity

First up, sovereignty.

Originally posted by FreakyKBH
Posted within these threads previously, this thread will attempt to delineate the attributes of God in an outline fashion. This does not address the absolute essence of His being, nor attempt to address the same. His existence is here assumed. Scripture is the only source of revelation regarding His essence, which, in and of itself, does not exclude fur ...[text shortened]... Omnipotence
Immutability Veracity

First up, sovereignty.

So your only source for information on the supposed attributes of your supposed god is the bible itself? If the accuracy of the bible can be called into question does that undermine your formulation of his supposed attributes?

Sovereignty is God's eternal, infinite and unchangeable will expressed in the doctrine of divine decree in eternity past. As Supreme Being of all creation, God has supreme volition and prerogative.
(Deut. 4:39; Ps. 47:2; 93:1,2)

He is eternal, infinite and self-determining, therefore God's sovereignty is eternal, infinite and self-determining.
(Ps. 93:2; 8:1; 115:3; 135:6; Acts 5:39; Heb. 6:13; Job 9:12; Prov. 21:1; Dan 4:35)

By divine decree, the sovereignty of God and the will of man coexist in human history. Both are invisible, though their results are visible.
(John 7:17; Phil. 2:13, II Pet. 3:9)

The sovereign will of God, as seen in Ephesians 1:5:
"Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will," as well as in II Peter 3:9:
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but He is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

With respect to the Church Age believers, as in Colossians 1:27:
"To whom God willed to reveal to the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." God willed to every Church Age believer the unique spiritual life, and not only revealed these riches, but Jesus Christ indwells each believer as "the hope of glory."

Functions of God's sovereignty
Final cause of all things: He created and maintains the universe.
(Col. 1:15,16)
Decreed to reveal Himself through the Bible.
(Heb. 4:12)
Decreed a policy of grace.
The Father sent Jesus Christ to provide eternal salvation.
(John 3:16)
Always in operation, for the purpose of His glory, therefore, all
things exist for His glory.
(Ex. 33:18; Ps. 19:1; Isa. 6:3; Matt. 6:13; Acts 7:2; Rom. 1:23;
9:23; Heb. 1:3, I Pet. 4:14)
All decisions have been made from a position of eternal and
infinite strength. All decisions are based on His eternal wisdom and
omniscience. It is impossible for God to make a bad decision.
Expresses supreme rulership, wisdom, and grace in His decisions
that relate to us. With respect to dying, the time, manner, and
place of our dying are determined by decisions from His
sovereignty. He never makes a mistake or a bad decision with
regard to our living, and He never makes a bad decision with
regard to our departure from this life.

Principles of sovereignty
Functions in concert with all other attributes
Functions in conjunction with omniscience. He possesses the
wisdom to execute His will. There never was a time (even in
eternity past), nor will there ever be a time (even in eternity future)
when God does not know every thought, motive, decision, and
action of every rational creature, angelic or human. In
possession of all the facts, God has complete and total knowledge,
which makes His decisions perfect. All decisions are based on
His eternal wisdom and omniscience.
He has never had to reverse a decision, nor will He ever.
Works in conjunction with His omnipotence. Never arbitrary, God
has the power to execute His will under any and all conditions.
God's sovereignty and human responsibility are not contradictory in
human history, since God has sovereignly decreed the function of
the free will of man. This aspect of God's plan is to demonstrate to
Satan and all fallen angels that His judgment of them in pre-
historic times was absolutely, completely, totally fair.
God uses human will to accomplish His will, yet man's will is never
coerced.
God's sovereignty does not minimize or compromise human
responsibility in history. The same sovereignty of God imputes
soul life to biological life creating human life at birth, keeping you
alive to reject or accept His will, the offer of salvation.
Any person who dies without reaching the point of accountability
at God-consciousnessis automatically saved because his free will
has not yet had the opportunity to accept or reject Christ.

The authority of God
God's authority is derived from all His attributes.
God has absolute authority over the possible and the actual.
Over possible things, God is sovereign in that He leaves them as
merely possible or decrees them to become actual at a point in
time.
God answers to no one. He acts in conformity with His own perfect
character and consults or confers with no one for advice or
encouragement. He is perfect and cannot be less than perfect in
any decision He makes.
All forms of existence are within the scope of God's dominion. He
is the final and absolute Authority. He delegates and establishes
systems of authority in the human race. Designed for believers
and unbelievers alike, these authorities are necessary for the
perpetuation of the human race.
God's authority rests in three facts:
1. God is creator. God gave existence to every creature and to
all things; therefore, His extends over all creation. He has
the right to save or judge, reward or discipline. These acts
are always consistent with His own essence.
2. God is redeemer. He has bought us with a price; therefore,
He has authority over us.
3. God has provided doctrine. The authority of God is expressed
in doctrine, and our obedience to His authority is related to
the amount of that doctrine in our souls.
The Freedom of God
The only restriction to the freedom of God's will is self-imposed to
be consistent with all other attributes.
He must be consistent with Himself; He cannot compromise His
essence.
The incarnation and spiritual death of Christ was the only way the
sovereignty of God could decree salvation for man. God is free to
bless man only when man is adjusted to His justice, first at
salvation, then in recovery, and finally at spiritual maturity.

Righteousness
God is perfect, both in person and in character, therefore all His attributes are perfect.
God is totally free from sin. He cannot in any way be involved with sin, other than to judge it.
God possesses eternal, unchageable and absolute righteousness. In combination with His justice, His righteousness is described as holiness, or integrity.
Righteousness is the principle or standard of divine integrity. All that God does adheres to this measure of perfection.
God's righteousness is perfect and demands perfect justice.
What His righteousness demands, His justice executes.
Righteousness is the guardian of God's justice.
All justice is administered from the perfect righteousness of God.
God is absolute good. This is not a moralistic good, not a legalistic good, not a distorted good from the sin nature perspective whereby man tries to impress God and people with how good he is. God's absolute goodness is a good of intrinsic value that is perfect righteousness. God is infinitely perfect. He can neither be tempted to sin, nor can He sin. Sin has boundaries, standards and measures, but God is beyond standards and measures and therefore cannot sin. God cannot tempt anyone to sin, but He can recognize sin in us.
God cannot be complicated with ignorance or absurdities, any more than with temptation, sin, or the approval of sin.
The intellect and character of God are perfect; His perfection involves absolute truth, love, justice, and righteousness.
God's very own righeousness is imputed to every believer at the moment of salvation, as the target for blessing from God.

Justice
God is perfect justice: absolute and incorruptible fairness. It is impossible for Him to be unfair.

All three members of the Trinity sit in the Supreme Court of Heaven; therefore, justice involves all three persons of the Godhead. Divine justice administers the system of divine laws that are compatible with divine righteousness and sovereignty.
God is an incorruptible and fair judge of mankind.

His justice administers the penalties and blessings which are demanded by His perfect righteousness.

God's penalties are not vindictive, but vindicative. With unchangeable sin and evil there is unchangeable condemnation and judgment; thus God is shown to be consistent.

The most dramatic display of God's justice is at the cross where Christ was judged as a substitute for us.
Jesus Christ was qualified to go to the cross because not only was He born perfect without a sin nature and without the imputation of Adam's original sin, He remained absolutely perfect, impeccable in His humanity during His thirty-three years on earth.
Therefore, He was qualified to become the sacrificial lamb, John 1:29:
"Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
In the last three hours on the cross, the justice of God imputed all the personal sins ever committed in the human race to the Lord Jeus Christ on the cross and judged every one of them. There exists no committed sin in all of human history, that was not judged on the cross.
As God's perfect righteousness demands the judgment of sin, all the sins of the human race had to be judged on the cross.
While on the cross, the justice and righteousness of God were the points of contact with the humanity of Jesus Christ.
The justice of God is the guardian of His divine essence in dealing with fallen man.

Therefore, from the moment we are born, spiritually dead, our point of contact with God is His justice, and continues to be so after salvation.

God's righteousness is the principle of His integrity; justice is the function. What righteousness demands, justice executes.

God's grace is extended through His justice. God does everything for man based on the saving work of Christ on the cross. Mankind can never accomplish or achieve the approbation or favor of God through his own efforts, work, energy, or morality. Because the righteousness of God was propitiated at the cross, His justice and righteousness combined with His love are free to bestow His unmerited favor on sinful mankind.

Who thinks this thread will die an early death? Or who thinks Freaky willl continue talking to himself for a few pages?

Love
Love is the absolute virtue and benevolence of God's thinking and actions. Love is what God is as well as what He does. As with all other attributes of God, love cannot be disassociated from His being. His love never diminishes or improves. His nature is to bestow Himself, to give of Himself.

God is love, whether or not He has a creature to love. His love is an inherent quality that does not require inspiration.

Throughout eternity, God has had a perfect object of His love in Himself. There never was a time when each member of the Trinity did not love His own righteousness, and the righteousness of the other two members in the Godhead. The only object ever worthy of God's love is God's own eternal, unchangeable righteousness. God's love was not less because there were no angelic or human objects, and God's love did not increase once there were creatures to love.
God's love is infinite and immutable; divine love does not increase or decrease, expand or diminsh. No form of creature sinfulness, faulure, vacillation, or rejection can change, effect, or elicit a reaction from God's love.

God's love is different from human love, which God does not possess. Even if we understand human love, that does not guarantee that we understand God's love. In its totality, God's love is beyond our comprehension. His love contains no emotion. Emotion in human love is (can be) a wonderful aspect of the same, but God does not have emotion. His love requires no support; ours does. In god's love, there is no deception--- only the inviolable demand of perfect truth and integrity--- while our love is often blind. Furhtermore, whereas God's love needs no object, our love is not love without one. God's love is part of His immutable being in spite of objects or opportunities.

God's love is not emotional or sentimental.
Because He is omniscient, His love cannot be somplicated with ignorance or absurdities.
Because He is righteous and just, His love is never partial or biased.

God's love depends on His integrity and is goverened by His integrity.

Categories of God's love.
Self-love and toward other members of the Trinity:
God loves His own integrity;
God's self-love is the perfect and eternal poise, self-confidence, self-possession and self-assurance possessed by each member of the Trinity. If God did not love Himself, there would be no reason for us to love Him;
In His infinite knowledge He knows Himself to be completely beyond comparison, worthy of admiration to an infinite degree;
Not only does each member of the Trinity love Himself, but all three possess the perfect integrity and capacity to loave and be loved by the other members of the Trinity;
There never was a time that God the Father did not love God the Son and God the Holy Spirit; or that God the Son did not love God the Father and the Holy Spirit; or that God the holy Spirit did not love God the Father and God the Son.

Next, love toward mankind.

Originally posted by rwingett
Who thinks this thread will die an early death? Or who thinks Freaky willl continue talking to himself for a few pages?

Leave him be. Maybe it will be cathartic enough to bring him to his senses.

Originally posted by FreakyKBH
Posted within these threads previously, this thread will attempt to delineate the attributes of God in an outline fashion. This does not address the absolute essence of His being, nor attempt to address the same. His existence is here assumed. Scripture is the only source of revelation regarding His essence, which, in and of itself, does not exclude fur ...[text shortened]... Omnipotence
Immutability Veracity

First up, sovereignty.

I can sum up the main attribute of god in one word:



Drumroll, , , ,






The word is:







Silence

Two thousand years ago a rambling buffoon such as Freaky would have been called a prophet!

Originally posted by howardgee
Two thousand years ago a rambling buffoon such as Freaky would have been called a prophet!

And would have gathered up a bit of a congregation till he got
himself crucified or worse, forced to marry a goat.....

Originally posted by sonhouse
And would have gathered up a bit of a congregation till he got
himself crucified or worse, forced to marry a goat.....

Sheep are so much better in bed.

Originally posted by FreakyKBH
Those revealed attributes of God include:
Sovereignty Righteousness
Justice Love
Eternal life Omnipresence
Omniscience Omnipotence
Immutability Veracity

All these properties have absolutely no meaning when refering to God. Either God is a citizen of this world, that is a being that is part of and not creator of the universe, or he is the creator of the universe including time, good, bad, etc and therefore can not be defined by the words you have given.

If justice is defined by God then he is supremely just. However as far as my own understanding of Justice, if God exists then he is most definately not Just. He is also rather selfish.

Originally posted by sonhouse
And would have gathered up a bit of a congregation till he got
himself crucified or worse, forced to marry a goat.....

If I was smart enough to figure out how to go back in time, I'd be smart enough to remain single, regardless of how attractive your mother may appear to you.