Attributes of God

I must confess that these next few entries are basically an overview of Norman Geisler’s “God and Creation” volume of Systematic Theology.  We worked our way through it painfully several years ago. Sometimes, we would have to read over passages 2 or 3 times and even look up words in the dictionary. I always had a headache when we were done, but there was always a “WOW” moment with each lesson that made it all worthwhile! I am making it “short and sweet”, or trying to.

First of all, God IS. He exists. His existence doesn’t depend on anything or anyone else. Colossians 1:17 says that He is “before all things”. The question that children never fail to ask, is one that we all have in the back of our mind: “Where did God come from?”, and Psalm 90:2 beautifully proclaims, “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

            God exists independently of everything else, but nothing exists independently of him. He is the creator of all that is. John 1:3 says “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” And then in Revelations chapter 4 verse 11, “You created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

God is one. He is not multiple in his being. God cannot be divided into parts. First Corinthians 8:4-6 says, “We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods….Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live.” Ephesians 4:6 states, “There is one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” In I Timothy 1:17 we read, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.” The trinity would seem to dispute the fact of God being one, but we must not confuse God’s essence or being with his three persons.

God is the creator of all things. In Acts 17, “He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else…For in Him we live and move and have our being.” And in Colossians 1:16,17, “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and FOR HIM.”  Sometimes I think we get that part a little mixed up and think that God exists for us. When we question God about why He allows certain things in our lives, it’s a little like my house asking me why I chose to paint it yellow instead of brown. I like yellow!