Qualities of God that humans resemble

A second group of qualities, often called communicable attributes b theology geeks, is more approachable for humans; they are qualities of God that he allows people to share in. Humans have a slice of the following qualities, and God has the characteristics in their fullest, most perfect forms: 

God is all-knowing. You can’t slip one past God. Because he’s omniscient, he knows everything. And I mean everything. Remember that cookie you stole from the cookie jar? Busted! Check out Psalm 139:1-6. 

God is all-powerful. Sure, Superman is more powerful than a locomotive, faster than a speeding bullet, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but he’s got a fatal flaw – kryptonite. In contrast, God is all-powerful (or omnipotent), with no Achilles’ heel. He can do what he wants when he wants. But keep in mind that what he does is always in synch with his other qualities discussed in this section. Refer to Job 42:2. 

God is holy. The Lord is morally perfect and excellent in every way. God commands his followers to “Be holy as I am holy.” Check out Isaiah 6:3. 

God is loving. God is also all-loving, loving every person with an intense agape (or selfless) love. Refer to Romans 5:8 and 1 John 4:8. 

God is righteous and just. Hating sin and anything impure, the Lord always does the right thing, making it impossible for him to ignore evil and turn a blind eye. His righteousness and justice are displayed in the Old Testament laws regarding sacrifice for sin, the necessity for the sacrificial death of Jesus, and eventual punishment for disobedience on Judgment Day (see Chapter 9). Check out Deuteronomy 32:4 and Psalm 89:14. 

God is merciful. Because of his enduring love, God is merciful and compassionate. He desires everyone to come to him, so he can shower them with mercy, as I discuss at length in Chapter 3. See Romans 9:14-16. 

God is good. Although the term good seems watered down in modern English, God is the very definition of goodness. Check out Romans 11:22. 

God is patient. The Lord is also patient, having a much slower timetable than I’d often like him to have. He’s never in a hurry and always acts at the perfect time. His patience means that he’s slow to anger when people blatantly go against him. The reason for God’s patience ties back to his mercy – because he desires that everyone come to him, he wants to give people as much time as possible to make that decision before it’s too late. See 2 Peter 3:9. 

God is truthful. Although Satan is defined primarily as being a liar (see Chapter 4), God is always truthful. Therefore, you can take God’s promises to the bank, so to speak, because he’ll never back out of them. Refer to Titus 1:2. 

God is wise. Always choosing the best way, God is perfectly wise. He won’t take an action that he’ll later regret, because he’ll always choose the right moves. What’s more, because he’s all-powerful, all-wise and all-patient, he’ll never panic and make a rash decision. Check out Daniel 2:20. 

God is faithful. As the original promise keeper, the Lord will always back up his words with action. See 2 Timothy 2:13. 

The Bible calls Christians to be more and more Christlike in how they live their lives. That doesn’t mean taking on the “mind-bender” attributes of God. Instead, it means allowing God to work in the life of each Christian to take on more and more of the above communicable attributes in the Christian’s life, such as holiness, truthfulness, wisdom, and faithfulness. These qualities are enhanced in Christians the more they submit to God and avoid sin. In this world, Christians will never fully attain these in perfect form like God does, but the objective is to realize them more as they grow closer in relationship to God. 

Qualities of God that express his personal nature

Theologians usually describe God with the traits in the preceding two sections, but if you stop there, God ends up being someone that may be great, but is highly unapproachable. Christians, however, believe in a final set of God’s qualities that need to be added to the list – ones that express his deeply personal nature: 

God is personal. Christians believe that in spite of being infinite and everywhere at the same time, the Lord is a personal God. He has intelligence, emotions, and a will. Therefore, he’s not simply some mindless blob of goo hanging out in space. 

God is a loving father, a daddy. Given God’s complexity, it’s easy to put him on a pedestal and think of him as being aloof from mere mortals. But the picture that Jesus and Paul paint of God in the New Testament is startling in terms of its intimacy. Rather than shower God with endless formal titles when you pray, Paul says to cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15-16). Abba is a term that indicates deep affection and intimacy and is a word that Hebrew children call their father, much like “daddy” or “papa” is used in English-speaking countries. Jesus also used this word when he teaches his followers to pray (Matthew 6:9) and uses it himself when praying to his Father on the night before his crucifixion (Mark 14:36). Further, Jesus paints a vivid portrait of God as a loving father in his parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. For more on God as a loving father, see Chapter 3. 

God is a friend. If you have a best friend, you know how special it is to have someone you can turn to when times are tough and the rest of the world seems to be against you. Jesus, who is fully God and fully man, said that you can think of him in the same way. In fact, he called all of his followers his “friends” in John 15:15. 

When you become friends with someone, that person is always someone you can relate to. If not, the friendship never sticks. The New Testament emphasizes that Jesus is someone you can relate to (see Hebrews 4:15). Because he was a human as well, he understands what you battle on this earth and sympathizes with the tight spots you find yourself in. Or, as former President Clinton might say, Jesus can “feel your pain.”

 

Ultimately, Christians believe that in order to get to know and understand the personal aspects of God, you should get to know Jesus Christ. Read the next section and turn back to Chapter 5 to find out more.