By: Dwayne Spearman
History
of the Doctrine of God
There is no
systematic theology equivalent to what there is today to be found in the Scriptures.
[1] Instead,
it has developed over a number of years as the church grew and transitioned. In
the first century church, there was no need for a systematic theology per se.
The church was pretty much contained to Jerusalem where the apostles lived and
taught. They were always available to help the people when any kind of doubt or
disagreement arose. For example, when the early church had their first dispute
about the Hellenists who felt that their widows were being neglected in the
distribution each day, the apostles were there to immediately step in to tell
them what they needed to do to solve the problem (Acts 6:1:7).
As time
passed, as a result of the first persecution at the hands of Saul in Acts 8,
the church began to spread out beyond Jerusalem. False doctrines had already
begun to creep into the church and the need for clarification became even more critical.
However, when these times occurred, the apostles were still there to help just
as they were when the question of what to impose upon the newly converted
Gentiles in Acts 15 arose. They merely convened, came to a consensus and still
continued to help lead the early church.
However,
when the apostles passed away and the Jews were even further dispersed after
Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., everything changed. The church began to
develop theological traditions about God such as Platonism, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism,
etc. [2] It was
then that counsels began to convene in an attempt to settle disagreements
instead of apostles (e.g. the Council of Nicaea in 325, the Council of
Constantinople in 381, Chalcedon in 451, etc.) [3] All of
these served to establish a systematic theology and the church’s basic
understanding of the Doctrine of God.
Application to the Church Today
The application for the Doctrine of God to
the church today is huge. For most people, the question is not the mere
existence of God, but who that God is. According to statistics, nearly
ninety-five percent of Americans say that they believe in God. [4] The
problem is that most of them believe in a God that they know very little about.
According to Stephen Prothero,
“America is composed of Protestants who can’t name the four Gospels, Catholics
who can’t name the seven sacraments, and Jews who can’t name the five books of
Moses.” [5]
Froese and Bader suggest that in the
church today, God is either viewed as authoritative, benevolent,
critical or distant. The way the church
defines that God affects everything in regards to the church collectively and
the individual particularly (i.e. moral, political and social values.) [6]
Accordingly,
those who believe in an Authoritative God believe in a God who is actively
engaged in this world and very judgmental. Those who believe in a Benevolent
God believe that God is definitely involved, but not judgmental. Those who
believe in a Critical God believe in a God who is judgmental but not actively
engaged. And then finally, those who believe in a Distant God see God as
nonjudgmental and inactive. [7]
More than ever, the church today needs a clear
understanding of who the God of the Bible is. Ultimately, without a proper
knowledge of that God, there can be no basis for morality, hope or purpose.
Without a proper knowledge of that God, there can be no answers to the deep
questions of life and the purposes of man.[8]
Introduction
to the Attributes of God
An
important part of the Doctrine of God is the attributes of God that are seen
throughout the Scriptures. In Romans 1:20-22, it says, “For since the creation
of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are
without excuse” (NKJV) [9] According to the Webster’s Dictionary, attributes are “that which is
attributed; or considered as belonging to, or inherent in.” [10] It could also be said that they are characteristics of a person or
thing. In essence, the attributes of God are the essential characteristics
without which God would not be God. [11]
A.W. Tozer once wrote, “Man’s
spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been
greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshipper
entertains high or low thoughts of God.” [12] This
paper will argue that God does have natural attributes, what those attribute
are, and that those same attributes are found in Jesus Christ and serve as
proof of His deity.
Categorization
of Attributes
As for
categorization, there are many ways of doing this. Let it first be noted that
there is much disagreement as to exactly how many attributes there are and how
they should be divided. Tozer points out that some have insisted on as few as
seven while others have suggested thousands. [13] According to Van den Brink, the only one mentioned explicitly in the
Scriptures is the attribute of love. [14] All of the rest must simply be deduced from what the Bible itself says
about God. [15] The exact number is debatable because they are so “intimately
connected” (e.g. transcendence, immensity, eternity and immutability). [16]
However,
it is usually agreed that they can be generally divided up into two groups
(e.g. natural and moral, incommunicable and communicable, passive and active,
absolute and relative, positive and negative, etc.). Frame says that they
should be possibly divided between transcendence (e.g. eternity, infinite,
etc.) and immanence (e.g. justice, love, grace, etc.). [17] Still others such as Elwell chose to divide them between metaphysical,
intellectual, ethical, emotional, existential and relational. [18] However, for the sake of this paper, they will be referred to as
natural and moral. However, the focus of this paper will only be the natural attributes.
Finally,
it has also been asserted that there are three methods to determine exactly
what the divine attributes should be. Hodge believes that the first method is
to attribute to God every “excellence that we have any experience or conception
of in an infinite degree” and deny every imperfection and limitation. [19] The second is to infer His characteristics from what we see Him doing
around us, and third is to take heed to the “didactic statements of Scripture.”
[20]
Natural
Attributes of God
Natural attributes are
those attributes of God that are at the very nature of His being and are His
and His alone. There is nothing about them found “in a created spirit”. [21] For example, the Bible says in 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we
shall see him as he is.” It
must be noted that when the Bible says, “we shall be like him”, it
is not saying that man will have God’s natural attributes, instead, it is
saying that man will have His moral attributes. Of course, there are
disagreements over what each attribute is called and exactly how many there
should be in totality, but most will agree that God’s natural attributes should
be: transcendence, immanence, eternality, infinite, immutable, omniscience,
omnipresence and omnipotence.
Transcendent
The first
natural attribute is transcendence.
The Bible speaks of this in Isaiah 46:8-10, “Remember this, and show yourselves
men; Recall to mind, O you transgressors. Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are
not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure.”
This attribute speaks of the fact that God is independent of and above His
creation. It is also referred to by some as immensity. It takes into
consideration that God transcends all spatial limitations and is present “in
every point of space with His whole being.” [22] This is what God meant when He told Moses that his name is I Am That I Am
(Exodus 3:14).
This same attribute can be found in Jesus Christ as well. The Bible
says that Jesus played an active role in creation; therefore He had to have
been with God in the beginning. [23] John 1:3 says that, “All things were made through Him, and without Him
nothing was made that was made”. Also, in John 1:10 it says, “He was in the
world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” The
Bible also says that Jesus claimed to be one and the same with God through his
infamous seven “I Am” statements, thus declaring Himself to be self-existent. [24] The first of which is in John 8:24 when he said, “Therefore I said to
you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you
will die in your sins." Jesus is transcendent.
Immanent
The second natural attribute is immanence. Although God is above His
creation, He is also “wholly present in every part and moment” of His created
universe. [25] The Bible says in Psalms 33:13-14 that “The LORD looks from heaven; He
sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the
inhabitants of the earth.” Of course, the climax of God’s immanence was His
coming to earth in the incarnation, living for thirty-three years among us, and
dying on a cross for man’s sins. Matthew 8:17 says that “HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR
INFIRMITIES AND BORE OUR SICKNESSES." He became one of us! Jesus is
immanent.
Eternal
The third natural attribute is eternity. This means that God has no
beginning or ending. In other words, there never was a time when He did not
exist. [26] He is eternally present. Psalms 90:2 says, “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the
world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”
This is also true of Jesus. He
said in John 8:56-58, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." The Jews
responded, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"
To which Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I
AM." Another verse that is very familiar to most that also confirms His
eternity is Micah 5:2 which says, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are
little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The
One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From
everlasting." The Word everlasting actually means eternity and speaks of the “eternality and the pre-existence of the
Son of God.” [27] Jesus is eternal.
Infinite
The fourth natural attribute is infinity. It means that God is free
from all limitations and in no way limited by “this time-space world”. [28] The Bible says in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my
ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Another way of saying it is that God is measureless (i.e. if He could
be measured, He would obviously have limitations).
This attribute is also seen in
Jesus Christ in the New Testament when Paul tells the Ephesians that grace has
been given to him to “preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of
Christ” (Ephesians 3:8) and further says that to comprehend “the width and
length and depth and height…of Christ…passes knowledge” (Ephesians 3:18-19).
Jesus is infinite.
Immutable
The fifth natural attribute of God is immutability. To say that God is
immutable means that He is unchanging. Malachi 3:16 says, “For I am the LORD, I
do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.” Again, in the New
Testament, James 1:17 says, “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.” In other words, not only does God not change,
but He is incapable of change.
Unfortunately,
some confuse immutability with impassability which says that God is incapable
of emotion. The thought process is that if God has emotions (i.e. love,
happiness, sadness, grief, etc.), then He is no longer immutable because these
emotions would represent a need for change. However, God must be open to
influence in order to “take account of the world” and if He were unable to do
that He would not be able to “enter into a relation to that world.” [29] It is a throwback to Plato’s argument that a perfect being does not
need feelings and to even say so is the strip them of their perfection, at
which point they would cease to be gods. [30] However, Hebrews 4:15 says that “we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” This attribute is also seen of Jesus Christ in Hebrews 13:8 where it
says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Jesus is
immutable.
Omniscience
The sixth natural attribute of God is omniscience. It means that God is
all-knowing. He knows the future as well as the past. His “intellectual
capabilities are unlimited” and He “uses them fully and perfectly.” [31] The Psalmist said, “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You
know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You
comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For
there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O LORD, You know it altogether”
(Psalms 139:1-4).
Everitt said of this that
God’s omniscience “must be contained to propositional knowledge in that He knows
of every truth that it is true and thus knows of every falsehood that it is
false). [32]
Omniscience
means that God knows the future as well as the past is indicated in Isaiah
46:10-11 when he said,
"I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is
still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my
purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that
will I do."
Jesus Christ also has this
attribute. John 2:24-25 says, “But Jesus did not commit Himself to them,
because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for
He knew what was in man.” Also, Peter said of Jesus in John 21:17 in response
to His question about his love for Him, "Lord, You know all things; You
know that I love You." The Bible even says that Jesus knew that Judas was
the one who was to betray him (John 6:64). Jesus is omniscient.
Omnipresence
The seventh natural attribute of God is omnipresence. That means that
God is everywhere present. Thomas Aquinas believed that omnipresence and
timelessness had to necessarily go hand-in-hand because in order for God to be
everywhere present, He also had to be timeless. [33] The prophet Jeremiah wrote, "Am
I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away? Can
anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD.
"Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:23-24).
The Psalmist also declared God
omnipresence when he wrote, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I
flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my
bed in hell, behold, You are there” (Psalms 139:7-9).
The Bible also declares that Jesus
is omnipresent. When speaking of fellowship and the His presence, Jesus said in
Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am
there in the midst of them." That means that no matter where or how many
present, Jesus is there. Ephesians 4:10 proves that Jesus is everywhere when it
says, “He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens,
that He might fill all things. Jesus is omnipresent.
Omnipotence
The
eighth natural attribute of God is omnipotence. It speaks to the fact that God
is all-powerful. “God is able to do whatever he wills in the way in which He
wills it.” [34] “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your
great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You (Jeremiah
32:17). Wierenga
put it this way, “Omnipotence is to be understood in terms of the ability to bring about
states of affairs.” [35] Jesus made a familiar statement
in Matthew 19:26 when He said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all
things are possible."
From Scripture, we can also deduce
that Jesus is omnipotent as well. John Walvoord agrees when he says that the
evidence that Christ was omnipotent is decisive and it “sometimes takes the
form of physical power, but more often refers to His authority over creation”
(i.e. He forgave sins (Matthew 9:6), had power of nature (Luke 8:25), power
over His own life (John 10:18), the power to give eternal life (John 17:2),
etc.” [36]
Jesus is omnipotent.
Conclusion
Using the Scriptures, the attributes of God are evident
throughout. He is indeed transcendent, immanent, eternal,
infinite, immutable, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. Not only does He
uniquely possess each of these attributes, but He does so in an unlimited
quantity. They are essential characteristics without which, He would not be
God. [37]
Again, using the Scriptures, these same
attributes that uniquely belong to God are also to be found in the Lord Jesus
Christ and serve as proof of His deity. He too is transcendent, immanent, eternal, infinite, immutable,
omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent.
The church desperately needs to embrace
this essential doctrine again. Maybe there needs to be another great council
with the goal of returning the church back to a basic understanding of the God
in which she confesses to serve. There are far too many conflicting views that
are contrary to the clearly revealed facts as found in the Holy Scriptures. The
end result is confusion and a loss of direction for the church. Tozer said that
in order for the church to regain her lost power, “she must see heaven opened
and have a transforming vision of who God really is.” [38] It will
be then and only then, that the church will truly understand the words that
were uttered so many years ago by the prophet Isaiah, “For
unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be
upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
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