Consider A Few Attributes Of God

Getting To Know God In Light Of Scripture

(Written by Kevin a. Hall    01.19.2017)

How can an understanding of God’s attributes help us to know God better?

I think of this one in relation to my marriage – I had better make every effort to know my wife or there’s a price to pay. Thankfully we are at a place where we often say the same things (together). I often mimic her words and she does mine. So it is with my relationship with God – I must seek to understand Him more and more to fully experience Him and His blessings. And he encourages us to imitate Him. Thankfully, we can learn about His nature through Scripture. We know that He is personal, indestructible, self-sufficient, immortal and because of this I am so happy “Those who trust in him do not trust in vain” (69).

 It is essential that we know Him so we can love, worship and confidently serve Him. Again, it is essential that we understand our God so that we can be in alignment with His will

Just imagine serving a real God who is creator of everything –

• Infinite (unrestricted, unbounded with His attributes the same – unlimited love, unlimited mercy, unlimited grace)
• Righteous (Consistent and true to Himself – always faithful, so we can trust that He will respond)
• Immutable (unchanging in His essence and character – He acts, is acted upon and reacts [79])

Many other attributes but you get the point… He is a living, breathing, holy, sovereign and good God. This is the only God I wish to serve.

What is the distinction between revelation and inspiration? How are those doctrines, plus the doctrine of inerrancy, related to the authority of Scripture?

I consider Revelation to be the act of God making Himself known to His creation. We know that He has done this through different forms – General revelation (through nature, within the heart of mankind allowing us to “have true knowledge of His basic will for His human creatures [45]); Special Revelation (revealing Himself through acts, deeds or events). He does this through words, dreams, speaking orally or in indirect conversations, through messengers or even manifesting Himself in various forms; the ultimate revelation being His Incarnation! Love it!

Inspiration on the other hand is God communicating revelation through His messengers. He does this “by exerting a power or an influence upon that person in a way that guarantees that what He says will be what God wants him to say” (50). Through this process, God controls the flow of information/revelation upon His messengers/apostles/prophets so that “without error or omission those truths, received through revelation or otherwise, which God deemed necessary for our salvation and service” (50) Through the process of inspiration God has “guaranteed that His message is exactly what He wanted it to be” (51) and as such it is inerrant and authoritative. This allowed for variation in reporting and mix of writing styles and personalities while remaining completely trustworthy and infallible. As such, God demands conformity and declare His word to be the norm for truth and conduct, or as Cottrell puts it “our only rule or norm or authority for faith and practice” (65).

Reference:

Cottrell, J. The Faith Once For All. United States: College Press Publishing (2003)

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