GOD-ATTRIBUTES-GENERAL
God is
utterly other than us – other in a
way we express with the word holiness.
Yes, He dwells within each Christian, but He’s not you. He isn’t the same as you, He isn’t a part of you, and He
isn’t a “higher” you. Yes, you’re made in His image, but you’re not Him. You’re not the same as Him,
you’re not part of Him, and you aren’t a “splinter” of Him – nor will you ever
be. He doesn’t depend on anything else because He is what everything else
depends on. He can’t be explained by anything else because He is what
everything else must be explained by. Although we can know what He has taught
us about Himself, we can never comprehend Him completely because He is greater
than our minds. Anything He wills, He can do. He not only holds supreme power
but He also uses it. Nothing can defeat Him and nothing can happen contrary to
His will. He is also supremely good – light with no darkness. Although evil is
real, He detests it and bring it to judgment. He knows everything, He pays
attention to everything, and nothing escapes His notice. He’s not just a What and a Who, like me or like you, but one What in three Whos – one God in three persons:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is no one like Him. He is set apart. He is
what He is, and there was never a time when He was not.
J. Budziszewski
Copied
from How to Stay Christian in College by J. Budziszewski copyright 2004,
p.33-34. Used by permission of NavPress (Think Books) - www.navpress.com. All rights reserved.
The
attributes of God, once so full of terror, are become [the Christian’s] shield,
his stronghold, and his triumph; and he can think of all the glorious
perfections of the Almighty, and then say, “I will go unto God, my exceeding
joy.” His resistless power, His infinite wisdom, His unchanging fidelity to His
word – all these are sources of triumph to everyone who, having believed in Christ, has become a child of God.
John MacDuff
The Throne of Grace, Alexander Strahan Publishers,
1865.
Again,
the glory of one attribute is more seen in one work than in another: in some
things there is more of His goodness, in other things more of His wisdom is
seen, and in others more of His power. But in the work of redemption all His
perfections and excellencies shine forth in their
greatest glory.
Thomas Boston
Of the Decrees of God, Commentary on the Shorter
Catechism.