Being & Attributes of God (Part 1)
Who is God? What do we know of His being and attributes from the Bible?
God has life in Himself (John 5:26) and is the one who gives life to everything (Gen 2:7; Acts 17:25). His existence depends on no one and nothing outside himself (Acts 17:24-25). He is the Beginning and the End of all things (Rev 21:6), the Alpha and the Omega (Rev 1:8; 21:6), which is consistent with Jesus’ testimony of himself (Rev 1:17; 22:13).
God is spirit (John 4:24). Unlike human beings, God is immaterial, without body parts, and invisible to physical eyes (John 1:18; 1 John 4:12).[1] In some parts of the Bible, God is described as having body parts (Exod 33:23; Prov 15:3; Isa 41:10). These instances are generally regarded as anthropomorphisms—knowledge about God expressed through human analogies.[2] There are also accounts of people like Abraham, Jacob and Moses encountering God in a physical form (Gen 18:1-33; 32:22-30; Exod 33:1-23). These instances are often called a theophany—a visible appearance or manifestation of the invisible God.[3] The incarnation of Jesus is the ultimate form of God’s theophany, in which the Son of God Himself took on flesh (John 1:4), dwelled (John 1:14), ate and drank with people (Matt 9:10-17; Luke 14:1-14; John 21:1-14).
God is infinite (Ps 145:3; 147:5; Job 9:10; Ecc 3:11). Unlike human beings, God is not limited by anything:
God is not limited by time. He is eternal, or in other words, everlasting (Gen 21:33; Exod 15:18; Deut 33:27; Rom 1:20), having no beginning or end.[4] God has existed before time (Gen 1:1; Isa 41:4; Matt 19:4; Heb 1:10) and will continue to exist (Ps 45:6; 90:2; Rev 1:18). Even though time is His creation, and He is not limited by it, Scripture shows that God chooses to see events in time and acts in time (Joel 2:28; Rom 5:6; Gal 4:4-5; Acts 17:30-31), although His experience of time is significantly different from ours (Ps 90:4; 2 Pet 3:8).[5]
God is not limited by space. He is omnipresent, and there is no place beyond His reach (Ps 139:7-9; Jer 23:23-24). He cannot be contained by space (1 Kgs 7:27; Isa 66:1), yet He desires to dwell among His people (Exod 29:45; Isa 7:14). He is both transcendent—above everything—and immanent—near to His people (Isa 57:15). In these last days, God has poured out His Spirit (Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:17-18), who dwells in the hearts of His people (Acts 2:4; Rom 8:9; 1 Cor 3:16), as a deposit that guarantees their eternal inheritance (Eph 1:13), that is, to dwell with Him forever and ever (1 Thess 4:17; Rev 21:3, 22).
God is not limited in power. In fact, He is all-powerful and almighty (Isa 44:6; Ps 62:11; Jer 32:17; Rev 1:8). He created (Col 1:16-17; Rev 4:11) and sustained everything by His powerful word (Heb 1:3). All things are possible with God (Mark 10:27; Luke 1:37). In His incomparably great power, God raised Jesus from the dead (Eph 1:19-20; Phi 3:10) and seated Him above all rule, authority, power, dominion and name forever (Ps 110:1; Matt 22:44; Eph 19:20-22; Phi 2:9) that at His name every knee should bow and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus is the Lord of lords, the King of kings (Phi 2:10-11; Rev 5:12-13; 17:14; 19:16).
[1] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, Second Edition, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020), ch. 12, "The Character of God: "Communicable" Attributes (Part 1)."
[2] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), ch. 11, "The Greatness of God."
[3] Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 1: Revelation and God, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2019), ch. 14, "Special Revelation."
[4] John M. Frame, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief, (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing Company, 2013), ch. 17, "God's Attributes: Lord of Time." Frame notes that there has been a long debate as to the definition of eternity as a divine attribute.
[5] Grudem, Systematic Theology, Second Edition, ch. 11, "The Character of God: "Incommunicable" Attributes."