Who’s your GOD?
A brief description of the Attributes of God.
We can know nothing about God, except that, and ONLY that, which He has revealed to us. And those attributes are found in Scripture. If the god you worship is less than, more than or different from the ONE TRUE GOD of the Bible, then your God doesn’t exist.
Ralph M. Petersen
THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD
God is Spirit in His essence or His nature. But His spiritual nature is unlike any other in His creation. It is true that He created man with a spiritual nature but man is not like God. And when men die, they do not become angels but they will exist forever in an embodied state with spatial and chronological limitations.
He has also created spirits (creatures without physical bodies) to inhabit a different dimension. We call them angels (or demons). But they are not like God. They are not infinite and they are not omnipresent. They have spiritual bodies that are also limited by space and time. And there are several instances in Scripture, where God has enabled some to see angels or demons.
Satan is not like God. He is not the ever-present evil counter-part to God. He is one of those created spiritual beings, who is limited by God in his power, presence, and influence.
Only God is the uncreated Spirit. He is not like a man. He needs nothing; He doesn’t depend on anything or anyone for His existence or sustenance. His being is fundamentally different from all His creatures.
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24
“To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Tim. 1:17
God is IMMATERIAL, INVISIBLE, and INFINITE.
God is Immaterial.
He does not have a body. Where He describes Himself, in scripture, as having human anatomical parts (His eyes, His hands, etc.) or human qualities (walking, sitting, resting, etc), He does so for our finite understanding.
He is not limited to physical or spatial constraints. Therefore, He is everywhere, at all times, and we can be assured that He is always with us. There is never anyplace we can be where God is not there.
God is Invisible.
No man has seen Him.
“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known.” John 1:18
Some people claim that they have seen God. They are wrong. The only physical manifestations of God in human form is the God-man, Jesus Christ.
We can see evidence of God in His creation. We can learn about Him in His revelation (the Word of God). And we can know Him through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
God is Infinite.
God is not constrained by time. He created time and He exists apart from time. That is why He sees everything and He knows the beginning from the end. That is why scripture says a day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day. In other words, He exists in eternity apart from His creation. When He spoke the world into existence, He is there, and, one day, when He brings it to its final consummation, He is there.
He is beyond all human understanding.
“Everywhere in the Old and in the New Testament, God is represented as a spiritual Being, without form, invisible, whom no man hath seen or can see; dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, and full of glory; as not only the creator, and preserver, but as the governor of all things; as everywhere present, and everywhere imparting life, and securing order.”
Charles Hodge
(Some material presented here has been quoted from "The Attributes of God" as published by Ligonier Ministries and influenced by the companion lectures of Steven Lawson)
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